Sins of the Fathers
by marialisa
Summary: A new Agent is assigned to the team..... Danny thinks she's hot, Sam's found a new friend and Martin's convinced he's met her before.....but Jack is sure she has a secret that could destroy someone's career
1. Chapter 1

_I've been writing this story on and off for a while; its not a case file although there will be case work running through it, instead it's more about the team (Jack, Danny, Sam and Martin) and what happens when a new agent is temporarily assigned to work with them. I am a bit of a Danny fan so you can bet he'll be front and centre for most of the story and Viv will appear as well but I haven't included Elena, it just wouldn't work with her in it!_

_**Warning:** lets get this out of the way – some spoilers for mid to end of season 4 because Jack is with Anne in this story (ducks as the Jammers start throwing things – I'm sorry, honestly, but I did put Jack and Sam together in my last story and the Smarties were OK with it!). You have been warned, although their pairing is more in the background and Anne doesn't really play a part in the story._

_**Character pairings**………if you read it you'll find out (and you should be able to guess within a couple of chapters although I'm not promising that first impressions are necessarily the right ones) but I am keeping a promise I made to specialfrog……!_

_**Disclaimer:** The WaT characters don't belong to me, I've just borrowed them _

_**Reviews: **I love it when I get reviews, even if it's because you don't like something, so, if you like the story (and even if you don't), post a review and let me know!_

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'…..so, Elena has been released from the hospital and she is going to recuperate with some of her family upstate. Viv is badly bruised and her arm will be in a cast for at least four weeks but other than that she seems OK. Obviously they want to monitor her for a while to be sure, but…'

Jack shrugged his shoulders, paused and looked at the remainder of his team. Everyone was still stunned after the events that had taken place last week when Viv and Elena's car had crashed on the interstate. Viv had walked away with cuts and bruises and a broken arm but Elena had had to be cut out of the car. A broken leg, a broken arm, two broken ribs, cuts and bruises and a severe concussion had kept her in the hospital for a week.

'When will they be back at work' Sam leant forward and propped her elbows on the table.

'It will be at least 6 weeks, maybe longer in Elena's case, as for Viv, hopefully she will be able to come back to desk duty in a couple of weeks time but we'll have to wait and see' Jacks face showed the strain they were all under.

A silence fell; Jack saw Martin and Danny exchange looks with each other and then with Sam. He waited for the question that he knew was coming, but none of them spoke. Eventually Danny shifted slightly in his seat.

'You know, we were stretched when there were six of us Jack, we've been lucky that nothing big has come in during the last week but as soon as something major happens we are going to be seriously under pressure with a team of only four'.

Jack nodded 'Yeh, I know, I've spoken to Van Doren and she is trying to source an agent from another unit who can be temporarily placed with us ….BUT,' Jack held his hand up to stop any interruptions 'we all know that it can be difficult to get an agent at such short notice for a short placement. Hopefully we'll get some news in the next 24 hours, in the meantime let's just be grateful that we don't have an active case and that we can all leave at a sensible time tonight.'

As Jack headed back to his office, Sam, Danny and Martin all moved back to their desks and began to pack up ready to go home;

'You know, I for one do not feel like another night sat at home thinking about what's happened, do either of you fancy going for a drink and a Chinese?' Sam swung her chair round to see the reaction from Danny and Martin

Danny nodded his head, a grin on his face 'that sounds like a plan, Marty, you up for a drink and a Chinese?

'Sounds good to me,' Martin was grinning too, 'do you think Jack will come?'

'Only one way to find out' Sam stood up, grabbed her bag and they all headed for Jacks office. He was on the phone listening intently; he looked up to see them stood at his door and held a hand up to indicate that they wait.

'Thanks Paula I appreciate this.' He listened again and then, 'OK, well I'll expect her tomorrow.'

Jack put the phone down and looked up at his team, 'Well the good news is that we have a new team member starting tomorrow. She's currently working Missing Persons out of the Miami office and she arrives tomorrow on the 06:43am flight from….;' he paused as he glanced at his notes, 'Atlanta….not sure why she's in Atlanta but……' he shrugged his shoulders and looked up at his team. 'Anyway her plane lands at 08:45 am at Newark and I need someone to meet her and bring her to the office; who fancies a run out to the airport?'

Danny, Sam and Martin all looked at each other; the run out to the airport at that time in the morning was a distinctly unappealing thought.

Jack waited for one of them to break the silence, 'Come on, someone has to go' he chided.

Sam raised an eyebrow 'Are you included in 'someone'?'

'No' I'm not 'someone' I have a meeting at 8:00am with Van Doren' Jack couldn't quite keep the smugness from his voice.

'Yeh?' Danny didn't sound convinced and Jack noticed that Martin had a politely disbelieving look on his face.

'Yeh!' Jack placed a great deal of emphasis on his reply.

Danny, Sam and Martin looked at each other,

'Rock paper, scissors?' Martin suggested

Sam shrugged her shoulders and Danny grimaced in reluctant agreement. They faced each other and clenched their fists;

'One, two, three…….' Martin counted and they all revealed their choice;

Sam had chosen paper; Danny and Martin had both gone for rock. Sam couldn't stop herself from sniggering slightly and earned herself a dirty look from Danny; she stepped back and Danny and Martin faced each other again with fists clenched.

'One, two, three….'

Danny counted this time. His counting turned to a groan when he saw his 'scissors' were trumped by Martin's 'rock'.

'Finished?' Jack was struggling not to laugh at Danny's reaction

Danny scowled, 'Yeh'.

'This is who you need to collect, Special Agent Eleanor Shaughnessy' Jack reached over to the printer and produced a photo which he handed to Danny

Danny took the photo and gave it a passing, disinterested glance…………………………..

'Wow'

The disinterested manner had gone and a wide smile was spreading across Danny's face. Sam and Martin looked at each other and then both moved so they could see the picture of Agent Shaughnessy.

Danny was looking a lot more enthusiastic about an early morning run out to the airport; Sam glanced at Martin and winked, then she turned to Danny, 'You know, thinking about it, I am the closest to the airport so I suppose I don't mind going to get her…' she put a long suffering 'I'm doing this for you because I'm a good friend' look on her face

Danny looked distinctly unimpressed but before he could speak Martin joined in the teasing; 'that's a very unselfish offer Sam; very …er…sympathetic to your co-worker's needs'

Sam turned and smiled sweetly at Martin 'Why thank you Martin, I do try to think of my co-workers needs'

Danny shot them both a filthy look; 'Undoubtedly the Comedy Club is the poorer for not having the two of you perform your double act on a nightly basis,' his tone was sarcastic, then he pasted a look of martyrdom on his face as he continued, 'but I don't expect anyone to do my, er, 'dirty work' for me,' he couldn't keep the martyred air up and his face split into a wide grin, 'anyway, she's not your type….'

'Er, this isn't a _date_' Jack raised his voice slightly

Danny raised an eyebrow and smirked 'Well there has to be some compensation for driving out to the airport in the morning rush and she's easy enough on the eye to make up for a hell of a lot of traffic hold ups'

'She's going to be a member of this team and you will treat her as such, not as a potential one night stand you pick up in one of those disreputable clubs you frequent' Jack warned, but he couldn't keep a smile from tugging at the corners of his mouth at Danny's clowning.

'You know I'm deeply offended by that statement….' Danny pretended to look hurt; everyone was laughing now.

Martin decided to help Danny out and turned to Jack; 'We thought we could all do with a drink and maybe a Chinese …fancy joining us?'

Jack looked thoughtful. 'Hmm, don't know……tell you what, let me give Anne a call and see what she's doing.'

'OK, how about we head down to Howie's and you can join us if you can' suggested Danny.

They arrived in Howie's Bar, grabbed a booth and ordered drinks. By unspoken agreement they decided not to talk about work although privately Sam thought that there was still some mileage in teasing Danny about his reaction to the photo of the new agent. A conversation about sports quickly started up; they were in the middle of a spirited debate about the Knicks chances in the coming basketball season when Jack arrived.

Danny sat back and grinned at him; 'Got a pass then?' They all laughed at the slightly embarrassed look that crossed Jack's face

'Yeh, Anne's going to be working a while yet and then she fancies an early night.' he paused, 'you know, first trimester….she still feels tired a lot…told me to go and enjoy myself while I can.'

'Yeh, you want to do that, I mean with all the sleepless nights and dirty diapers only a few months away' said Danny cheerfully

Jack pulled a face 'Your turn will come Taylor and when it does I am going to enjoy every moment…….'

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After a couple of hours drinking in Howie's Bar they headed for the local Chinese restaurant. It was a happy relaxed evening and Sam couldn't remember the last time she had laughed so much; but eventually Danny called a halt to proceedings,

'Guys, it's been a good evening but I really need some sack time'

He turned and caught the attention of a waiter 'Can we get the bill please?'

Martin stretched, a smirk appearing on his face 'Yeh….well you want to make sure you look good when you _pick up_ Special Agent Shaughnessy don't you?'

Danny looked offended, 'lay off will you, I'm just doing what the boss ordered and extending a helping hand to our new colleague'

He saw the exchange of glances and the smirk on Jack's face; 'As long as that's all you 'extend' to her', Jack made no effort to disguise the double meaning behind his words and the three of them were all laughing openly now.

Danny was tempted to say something….something about people in glass houses not throwing stones, after all, he was the only one sat at the table not to get involved with someone he worked with. He caught Martin's eye and saw the rueful grin on his face and decided to rise above it…..this time……..if it carried on then Danny figured he would be entitled to take the gloves off…….

Outside Danny said his goodbyes quickly and headed off to get the subway. Martin, Sam and Jack stood on the sidewalk looking for available cabs.

'This is hopeless' Martin was laughing after yet another off duty cab passed them, I think I'm going to head to the subway you guys, is that OK?' He directed the final part of the question toward Sam;

'That's fine; Jack and I can share….when we eventually get one to stop'

As soon as the words left her mouth Sam could have bitten her tongue out. Memories came rushing in; Martin finding her crying when she found out that Jack was going to Chicago……her offer to Martin to share a cab……their first night together in her apartment…… their lovemaking being interrupted the following morning……him wanting to tell everyone about them…….her refusal……

She looked at Martin, her mouth opening to find some words to take back what she had just said but she stopped when she saw the expression on his face; rather than hurt or anger she saw amusement.

Sam stared in amazement. How could he find this funny? She glanced over toward Jack but he was concentrating on trying to find an available cab and didn't appear to have heard. She looked back at Martin, he was still grinning. She opened her mouth again but before she could say anything Jack called

'We have a cab…'

'Well you two take that one; I'll see you both in the morning.'

With a wave Martin headed off toward the subway. Sam walked to the cab and slid inside next to Jack.

They sat in silence for a while and Sam replayed what had just happened with Martin. He had found it funny….her sharing a cab with Jack. Surely he must have been reminded about when they had shared a cab…… and what had happened when they had……and he found being reminded of that _funny_?

She tried to make sense of it……she couldn't make sense of it….unless……..unless he was over what had happened between them, unless he only thought of her as a friend……unless he didn't care about her that way any more?

'You OK?'

She was startled of her reverie by Jack.

'Hum, er yes,… I'm fine thanks'.

Jack looked at her curiously, 'you sure Sam?'

She turned her head and met his eyes. She smiled 'Yes, really.'

An awkward silence fell between them and Sam desperately searched for something to say……. 'Soooo, are you looking forward to being a father again?'

Jack was surprised. Since the announcement of Anne's pregnancy Sam hadn't raised the matter at all, in fact, she had kept their conversations brief and focused solely on work. He answered cautiously; 'Yeah, well it was a surprise, obviously' he pulled a wry face ' but now we have had time to get used to it we are both pretty excited about it……well, Anne's excited when she isn't throwing up.'

Sam smiled 'I'm pleased for you Jack'

She saw the look that flashed across his face '_really_, I am pleased for you, if this is what you want……' her voice trailed away.

A silence fell between them again. Sam heard Jack sigh slightly, 'Sam, you will always be special to me'

She turned back and opened her mouth to speak but he raised his hand and stopped her 'but it would never have worked out'.

Sam caught her breath and stared at him 'What do you mean?'

Jack took her hand and their eyes met 'I mean that we were great together but I don't think either of us could have a long term secret relationship….its not healthy and lets face it, we weren't in a position to make it public'

Silence fell again, then Jack squeezed her hand and dropped it 'You know, with Anne I have the relationship I think I always wanted….it's not as exciting as ours was but it is more satisfying'.

Sam turned to face him again confusion on her face. 'I…I don't understand'

Jack met her eyes 'Sam, you are beautiful, funny, intelligent……and a lot younger than me. You don't think I was flattered that you found me attractive?'

He paused but she remained silent

'Well I was, in fact I still am. I still care about you, I still find you attractive but I want a relationship of equals, were we are both committed and we both want the same things. I can have that with Anne, I can't have that with you.'

Silence descended again and Sam noticed they were turning into Jacks street. As the cab stopped she spoke; 'I think I understand….maybe it's just that we finished before I was ready to call it a day and…..' She tailed off again but before he could speak she continued; 'I know I had something really good with Martin but……maybe it was still too soon after us, maybe I was still thinking that……..'

Jack took hold of Sam's hand and gently squeezed it before dropping it again; he spoke softly; 'Well, maybe it's not too late for the two of you to work it out…….if that's what you both want'

Sam looked at him in surprise 'I think Martin has moved on…I mean we are friends, good friends, again but……I don't think he would be interested in dealing with my neurosis, I mean, he always knew what he wanted from me, it was me that messed it up.'

Jack pulled out his wallet and paid the cab driver. He opened the door as he looked back at Sam, 'You know if you want to try again you should tell him, the worst that could happen is that he say's no…'

He stepped out of the cab, closed the door and raised a hand to wave goodbye before turning toward his apartment block and going inside.


	2. Chapter 2

Danny yawned as he idly scanned the crowds gathered around the luggage carousel. It had been the usual lousy run out to the airport and he was cursing himself for not taking Sam up on her 'offer' of the previous day.

As he let his eyes move casually back across the crowds he spotted her. She was tall, dressed in jeans, low heeled boots, T shirt and jacket; her dark brown hair was tousled and hung just below her shoulders. In his considered opinion she filled a pair of jeans and a T shirt as well as he could ever remember seeing anyone fill them.

Danny watched as she stared at the carousel waiting for her bag. He noticed the guy stood next to her, an early 30's, something on Wall Street type, try to strike up a conversation and grinned as he saw the unmistakable signs of a man being shot down in flames.

She continued to stare at the carousel, ignoring the Wall Street type who had slunk around to the other side, an embarrassed look on his face. She appeared thoroughly fed up and Danny couldn't blame her; if his start had been early, hers had been earlier still and knowing the Bureau she wouldn't have had much notice that she was coming to New York.

He saw her grab a suitcase from the carousel and he walked forward to greet her,

'Agent Shaughnessy?' He held up his ID for her to see, 'Hi, I'm Danny Taylor. I'm with the New York MPU'.

Danny could see shadows under her dark blue eyes that suggested a lack of sleep in recent nights; combined with the tousled hair and lack of makeup she looked as if she had just climbed out of bed…..in short she looked as sexy as hell. Now he was closer he could read the words on her T shirt,

'_Gold digger: Like a hooker, only smarter! '_

Danny bit his lip to stop himself laughing; she clearly had a sense of humour.

She reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out her ID, 'Ellie Shaugnessy lately of Miami MPU'.

Danny grinned. 'Well not much difference between Miami and New York……other than the weather, the beaches……..'

The look she gave him was one of reluctant amusement. 'Yeah, well, who needs great weather anyway…' she shrugged.

Danny reached for her case

'Why don't I take that for you?' He took hold of the handle and continued, 'I'm parked in the short term car park, it's this way'

She caught his arm before he could move, 'Look, do we have time for me to grab a coffee to go? It's been a hell of a week and I've no chance of making it through today unless I get some serious shots of caffeine inside me.'

Her voice was husky. It sent shivers down his spine and his arm burned from where her hand rested on his jacket. He groaned inwardly, shocked at how intense his reaction was to her. He took a firm grip of himself; 'Sure, I could use one too, in fact you stay here and I'll grab us both a coffee. How do you take it?' Danny handed the case back to her and reached into his jacket for his wallet.

'Black, strong, no sugar….'

For a moment their eyes held and Danny felt another surge of attraction.

'OK, one strong black coffee coming up.'

He forced his voice to stay light and grinned at her before breaking eye contact and heading over to a nearby stand to buy the coffees, his head in whirl. '_Whoa Danny boy, you're going to have to watch yourself with this one or else you're going to make a complete fool of yourself._'

He paid for the coffees and headed back to where she was leaning against a wall flicking through some numbers on her cell phone. He held a large cup toward her,

'Black and very, very strong'

She looked up and smiled her thanks as she took the cup from him, her fingers brushing against his……

'_Hell_' thought Danny as he felt the reaction to her touch shoot up his arm

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She hadn't said anything since getting into the car and Danny had been content to let her sit, sip her coffee, and stare at the Manhattan skyline while he battled the traffic. Into the silence came the sound of her cell phone.

'Shaughnessy'

Out of the corner of his eye Danny could see her pull a face when she realized who was on the other end of the phone.

'Hi', she listened then, 'look I don't see how…' she listened again clearly getting pretty irritated at whatever was being said, then 'and you think I am?' She sounded really pissed off now.

Watching her from the corner of his eye Danny saw the expression on her face change from annoyed to expressionless to bored in a matter of a minute as she listened to whoever was on the other end, then,

'You know, I might be feeling a bit more sympathetic if it wasn't me that was woken up a 4:30am this morning and….'

She stopped again, and Danny saw her roll her eyes at whatever was being said.

'Well you know what, I don't really give a fuck about your 'problem.' As far as I'm concerned we're over.' The bored expression changed to one of incredulity at whatever was being said to her.

'You are kidding aren't you?' She listened some more then started to laugh. 'Well you think that if it makes you feel better; clearly I have higher standards because as far as I'm concerned the sex was distinctly average.'

She snapped her phone shut and stared fixedly out of the window; within seconds it rang again. She looked at the caller display and hit the cut off button, a bored look on her face.

Danny knew he should pretend he hadn't been listening but the temptation was just too great.

'So his mornings off to a lousy start then.'

She turned her head and stared at him, seemingly trying to decide whether to be annoyed or amused; amusement seemed to win.

'Whose morning?' There was a challenge in her voice but Danny decided she didn't sound angry, so,

'Your _ex_ boyfriends.'

'_Boy_friend?'

The shock had Danny nearly ploughing into the taxi in front of them. He slammed the brakes on and stopped an inch from the bumper. The car behind hooted its disapproval, as he turned to look at her; she was laughing at him.

He stared at her for a moment whilst he tried to get his head around what she had just alluded to.

'Ah, hmmm, ok so I assumed…….' he paused; she was clearly finding his discomfort very amusing. He shrugged his shoulders, 'hey, whatever works for you.' _but damn, that's a waste._

She started to laugh, 'I wouldn't call _him_ a boyfriend.'

Danny glared at her but she looked unrepentant as she continued.

'He's more of a… hmm...casual fling really, it's just that he seemed to think it was a bit more than that.'

Her eyes issued a challenge to him and he decided to accept it. He lowered his voice slightly, leaned toward her and looked her right in the eyes.

'I'm all for casual flings,' he saw her eyes widen slightly, 'although preferably with sex that rates as 'hot' rather than 'distinctly average''

The traffic started to move again and he turned his attention back to the road but not before he saw the smile tug at the corner of her mouth and the speculative look she gave him. He decided to change the subject; this one was threatening to get him way to hot and bothered to be driving a car during rush hour.

'Do you know New York at all?'

He knew by her expression that the abrupt change of subject had caught her off guard.

He laughed at her confusion as he asked again, 'New York, do you know it at all?'

'I grew up here.'

'Yeah? Where'd you live?'

She hesitated. 'No one place really, you know, moved around a lot'

'Well at least you'll know your way around, this city is hell when you don't.'

Danny decided to drop the subject. It wasn't that she was being unfriendly but the smile was gone and in its place was a neutral mask that suggested that he wasn't going to get much out of her. Interesting though, she'd talk about a casual fling but not about living in New York…

From the corner of his eye he saw her glance thoughtfully at him and a small smile appear. She turned slightly in her seat to look at him.

'So, tell me about the rest of the team then, how come you need someone on a short term placement?'

They had stopped at an intersection and Danny turned his head slightly to look at her. She was watching him calmly and he was struck again by her eyes; they were ringed with dark, thick lashes and were the darkest blue he had ever seen. This close he could see that they had little flecks of gold in them; he'd bet a months salary that they would turn almost black if she was angry…or if she was aroused…

_Hmm, well thinking about that isn't going to get you anywhere except a sexual harassment charge Taylor; still, at least you know she hasn't got a boyfriend and she isn't adverse to a casual fling…_

He forced himself to focus and answer her question.

'Two of our agents, Vivian Johnson and Elena Delgardo, were in a car wreck on the interstate a week or so ago. It's going to be a while before they're back at work so we're short handed. Jack put a request in and here you are.'

The traffic had started to move again but Danny chanced another sideways look at Ellie.

'Rough on all of you when that sort of thing happens.' She spoke softly and he could tell the sympathy was genuine as she continued, 'So who else is in the team?'

'Jack Malone is the SAC. He's tough, but no-one knows missing persons better than him' Danny was concentrating on the road and avoiding the cab that had suddenly decided to change lanes in front of him. 'The other two agents are Samantha Spade and Martin Fitzgerald…'

Danny paused and glanced at Ellie to see if she had reacted to either of the names he'd just given her. He wasn't disappointed; a disbelieving smile was spreading across her face.

'Sam Spade? As in the Maltese Falcon?'

Danny laughed. 'Apparently her mother was a big fan, but a word to the wise; stick with 'Samantha' and not 'Sam' until you know her better.'

Ellie nodded, the smile still in place. 'Right, I'll remember that.'

Danny continued, 'She's a good agent and a good friend. Now, as for Martin…'

He shot another sideways look at Ellie and was interested to see that the neutral mask was back in place again.

'Fitzgerald huh? Any relation to Deputy Director Fitzgerald?'

'Yeah, he's his son.'

He paused for a moment then continued, 'he's a straight up guy and a damn good agent.'

He looked at Ellie to gauge her reaction. A wry expression was on her face as she shrugged her shoulders.

'Can't do anything about who your parents are.'

She turned and stared out of the window again, apparently lost in thought. Danny decided that whatever it was she was thinking about couldn't be that happy judging by her face, still, it wasn't as if he had any great memories of his parents, well his father anyway, and so he left her to her thoughts.

The silence remained unbroken until they neared the office. Danny knew that he was going to have to mention how she was dressed, not that he was complaining, but…

'Look, Jack is very keen on proper work wear. If you like you can stop at the bathroom on the first floor and get changed into your suit before we head up.'

She looked as if she was finding something amusing although Danny couldn't think what it was.

'I don't have anything that 'Jack' would consider 'proper work wear' to change into.'

He stared at her, wondering why the hell you would turn up for your first day of work without any work clothes to wear. She was looking at him, eyebrows raised, waiting for him to ask. He decided not to disappoint her.

'You don't have any work clothes with you?' He didn't try to hide the incredulity in his voice.

'I got a call at 4:30am this morning and was told to get on the morning flight to New York. I was on vacation in Atlanta and obviously couldn't get back to Miami in time so…….'

She shrugged her shoulders slightly.

'You were on _vacation_?'

'Yeah, for all of 7 hours before they called to tell me to get on that damn plane.'

She sounded pissed and Danny really couldn't blame her.


	3. Chapter 3

_She was in a church; sunlight was filtering in through the stained glass windows, painting the stone floor in muted tones. The organ was playing The Wedding March and she could see him waiting for her as she slowly walked down the aisle in a beautiful silk dress, clutching a bouquet of white roses. _

_She could feel a hand on her arm, guiding her toward the man waiting to make her his wife and turned to see Jack smiling at her. She smiled in return and turned back to where Martin was waiting for her but the aisle was getting longer and longer and Martin was further and further away_

'_You'll have to run or he'll be gone'; she turned but Jack wasn't there anymore, he was standing by the church door with Danny and Viv_

'_Go on Sam, you and Marty are good together' Danny was smiling, but as she stared at him he seemed to be fading away and she was suddenly aware that the church had gone and that she was alone………………..._

Sam woke with a start, her heart racing. The room was dark with only the beginnings of daylight filtering in through the blinds as she tried to remember what she had been dreaming about. She lay still, taking slow steady breaths to calm her heart rate and gradually the dream returned…………

She groaned; these dreams were becoming a regular occurrence but this was the most vivid yet; she wondered if it was because of last night's conversation with Jack……….. Knowing from experience that she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, she climbed out of bed and headed for the kitchen and the coffee pot.

With the coffee made she grabbed some cushions from the sofa and curled up on the window seat. Clutching her coffee mug to her, head resting against the glass, she watched the street below slowly come to life.

She thought about Martin. She found herself smiling, remembering how it felt waking up next to him in the mornings, how it felt falling asleep with him at night, how it had felt to make love to him………………..how it was ironic that she would finally know what she wanted, just at the point when it was obvious that Martin had moved on…..'_Serves you right Sam, you had your chance and you blew it_'.

Jacks words of the previous night replayed in her head

'_You know if you want to try again you should tell him, the worst that could happen is that he say's no…' _

She frowned, she knew she had to talk to him, had to find out whether there was any chance at all that they could try again, but how to tell him and when?

She didn't want to tell him at work; that was a recipe for disaster so she needed to find a time outside of work……….a social occasion when it wouldn't raise any eyebrows…………..but they didn't get many of those, still, they had a new agent starting, maybe some sort of a night out, sort of 'meet the team' occasion when she could get Martin on his own for a few minutes……..

She headed for the shower, still trying to work out a way to be able to tell him…………………

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She was still mulling it over in her mind as she arrived in the bullpen at 9am. Jacks coat was hanging in his office but otherwise there was no-one about. She looked thoughtfully at Viv's desk; Agent Shaughnessy would need a desk to sit at and Viv's made the most sense. Sam grabbed a box and began moving enough of Viv's personal stuff off the desk to make room for its temporary occupant.

'Morning'

She jumped and swung round from where she was finishing packing the second box. Martin was standing behind her with a smile on his face and two cups of coffee in his hands. He extended one of the cups toward her

'Coffee?'

'Oh thanks' she felt strangely shy and tongue tied

Martin put the other cup down onto the conference table 'You getting Viv's desk ready for our new colleague?'

Sam managed to pry her tongue from the roof of her mouth; 'Yeah, I didn't think Viv would mind and it's closer than Elena's desk, so it will help her feel more part of the team'._ OK Sam, you sounded normal, not too like a tongue tied schoolgirl but you really need to tell him soon……….._

'Makes sense' Martin took a drink from his coffee 'Do you need some help?'

'Well, if you want to grab that box and I'll take this one and we can put them in Jack's office for safe keeping until Viv gets back.'

Martin picked up the box Sam had indicated and followed her into Jack's office. They placed them in the corner next to the bookshelf and returned to the bullpen.

'I wonder how Danny is getting on' Martin was laughing. 'His eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw her picture yesterday'

Sam looked sideways at him 'Well, she's very attractive' she paused for a moment, then added 'didn't you think so?'

Martin picked up his coffee again and looked thoughtful 'Yeah, I thought she looked very attractive…..' Sam felt a stab of jealousy before she heard him continue '….but you know me, I prefer blondes.'

Sam looked at him quickly, she was almost certain he was flirting with her. He had an innocent look on his face but his eyes had a glint in them that Sam remembered well. Her mind scrambled for something flirtatious to say but she couldn't think of anything…….

Before she could recover Jack arrived in the bullpen; 'Morning, either of you heard from Danny yet?'

'No, have you?' Martin looked enquiringly at Sam

'No, haven't heard anything from him yet but he would call if he was running late' Sam had recovered her composure. 'Do we have a case?'

'No but the day is young' Jack smiled wryly and turned to head back toward his office, stopping as he saw Danny and a tall brunette walk into the bullpen.

Sam looked at the new agent………then turned and looked at Martin who she saw had also registered how the new agent was dressed, and, from the amused expression on his face, had realized as well as she had that it was guaranteed to put Jack's back up.

'This should be interesting' she murmured and saw Martin's lips curve into an answering smile.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Danny pushed the button to send the elevator to the 12th floor grinning as he saw Ellie fail to stifle a yawn.

'You look very tired; more than just from an early start today'

She nodded, yawned again and rubbed her face vigorously with her hands, he assumed in an attempt to stay awake;

'Kidnapping. We'd worked for 72 hours before it was resolved and that was yesterday afternoon. By the time I'd done the paperwork, gone home, packed and reached Atlanta it was after midnight. I reckon I've had 7 hours sleep tops in the last three days and that includes the hour I managed on the plane……' her voice trailed off as she yawned again.

The door opened on the 12th floor. Danny stood back to let her exit the car first.

'Let's check Jack's office. If he's not there we'll head for the bull pen' he grinned at her, 'and I'll see if I can rustle up some more coffee'

She smiled wryly but didn't reply.

A quick glance told Danny that Jack wasn't in his office so he led the way to the bull pen; he could see Jack, Sam and Martin stood at the conference table talking; he glanced quickly at the board; it appeared clear so he assumed that no new case had come in. He led the way across the bull pen floor

Danny knew as soon as he saw Jack's face that he was pissed; he wondered about jumping in with an explanation but the short time he had spent with Ellie had already given him the clear impression that she was very capable of taking care of herself. He glanced quickly at her face; that neutral mask was firmly in place………………….he decided that discretion was the better part of valour …………….

'Hi, this is Ellie Shaughnessy. Ellie, this is Jack Malone, Samantha Spade and Martin Fitzgerald' Danny stood back, happy to watch the next couple of minutes unfold.

Ellie smiled at Sam and took her outstretched hand, 'Hi Samantha, it's good to meet you'

Danny saw Sam give Ellie a quick once over and then return her smile; seemingly she liked the look of their new colleague.

Martin held his hand out 'Good to meet you Ellie'

Danny couldn't be certain but was there the faintest hesitation in Ellie shaking Martin's hand? There was definitely something in her eyes, he just couldn't put a finger on it………….

Ellie had turned to face Jack who held his hand out to her. She took his hand and looked him squarely in the eye……

'Agent Shaughnessy, good to meet you,' Jack's voice was cool, he paused for a moment, dropped her hand and looked her up and down 'Tell me, do you consider those clothes suitable to wear in the office'

Ellie's expression didn't change and she maintained eye contact with Jack 'As it happens, I don't'

Danny watched as Jack waited for her to offer an explanation; Ellie however continued to meet his gaze steadily but remained silent.

Jack's mouth tightened in annoyance 'So what….you had time to put jeans on this morning but not a suit?' He made no effort to keep the sarcasm from his voice.

'Nope, I had time to put a suit on' Ellie continued to meet his increasingly angry stare without flinching. Danny exchanged glances with Sam and Martin and wondered again if he shouldn't jump in and explain

Jack frowned 'In that case explain to me why you aren't _in_ a suit'

Ellie looked him straight in the eye; 'I'm not in a suit because my suits and all my clothes that are 'suitable for work' are in my closet in Miami. When I got the call at _4:30am_ this morning telling me that I had to be here for 9am today I wasn't in my apartment. I was staying with a friend in Atlanta, approximately 7 hours into the first vacation I have had in a year.

Sam and Martin both stared at her.

'They made you give up your vacation?' Sam sounded outraged

'Who'd you piss off?' Martin was struggling to keep the amusement put of his voice

Ellie looked away from Jack toward Martin and broke into a reluctant smile; 'The list is long but distinguished'

She turned back to Jack, 'A friend has arranged to pack up some work clothes and send them to me. They should arrive here later today, tomorrow at the latest, but until then I'm in jeans'; there was a challenge in her voice

Danny looked at Jack; he appeared completely taken aback and obviously hadn't had the faintest idea that she was supposed to be starting a holiday.

A silence developed, broken only when one of the support staff came over 'Jack, Van Doren is on the phone, say's it's important and can you go up to her office straight away.'

Jack nodded his head and turned back to Ellie, 'I'll leave you to get settled, we'll have a chat in my office when I get back.'

Danny bit his lip to stop himself laughing; the look on Ellie's face told him just how much she was looking forward to that.

Jack left and the four agents remained standing, no-one quite knowing what to say. The silence was broken by Ellie starting to laugh softly to herself;

'Way to go Ellie, nothing like getting off on the right foot', she looked at Danny, Martin and Sam and continued, 'and let's face it, that was _nothing_ like getting off on the right foot'. She had a wry smile on her face.

Martin grinned at her 'Don't worry, I broke major protocol on my first day and he eventually forgave me….'

'Uh huh, and how long did it take before you were back in his good books?'

Sam and Danny were both grinning at the memory; 'Well I'd say you were squared away….what……after about 6 weeks or so of desk duty?' Danny had a mock serious look on his face

'Closer to 8 weeks wasn't it, I mean you'd have to include all the dumpsters that he made him search once he was back in the field again' Sam too had a serious look on her face.

Ellie played along with their teasing. Groaning theatrically she put her head in her hands; 'God, if that's the case I hope your colleagues recover in double quick time….desk duty would just about finish me off…'

They were all laughing now. Martin shook his head, 'He got over it pretty quickly. He's under a lot of pressure at the moment and we're all pretty tired; I don't think you have anything to worry about'

'Unless your clothes don't turn up……' Sam raised an eyebrow at Ellie and Danny saw her mouth twitch in reply, Sam continued 'but I can't believe that they cut short your holiday'

'Yeah, that's rough, you must have really pissed someone off' Martin was regarding her quizzically.

Ellie shrugged her shoulders, 'Actually, it was your father' she grinned at Martin who was looking horrified

'Oh tell me you're kidding'

'Nope' she was laughing at the look on his face 'Look don't stress about it, it was my fault for not keeping my mouth shut'

Danny caught her eye and raised his eyebrows, a broad smile on his face, 'come on, you can't leave us hanging; what did you say to Victor?'

Ellie paused and the rolled her eyes; 'Well……I may have suggested that as he spends so much time in a seated position behind his desk that this had perhaps led to him not having an up to date appreciation of some of the challenges that were presented to agents in the field and I may have also alluded to the fact that such a sedentary lifestyle has possibly led to an increase in the size of his posterior.'

Danny could see the stunned looks on both of Sam and Martin's faces and knew his was their mirror. Then, slowly, the meaning behind her words sank in and he saw from the smiles on their faces that Sam and Martin had caught on too.

'So let me get this right, you basically told my father that he should get off his fat ass and find out what it's like in the real world?' Martin's shoulders were shaking with laughter.

'Hmm, pretty much, although I may have used a few extra words that my grandmother would not consider lady like.'

'When was this?'

'Two days ago,'

She stared at them; 'hey you don't think that this could have anything to do with me having my holiday interrupted do you?'; the sardonic expression on her face told Danny that she knew full well that it probably had everything to do with it…….

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

'Sorry to take so long, I got waylaid by Danny' Jack arrived in the office clutching two mugs of coffee and handing one to Ellie. He looked at her, 'From what he told me you'll be needing this'

Ellie took a big gulp of coffee, as if she were hoping the caffeine would kick in soon. She met his eye; 'This or a good nights sleep…'

'Yeah,…….I spoke to Van Doren; we weren't told that you were supposed to be on holiday so sorry about that.'

Jack watched her carefully but her face was expressionless as she stared at him, then she shrugged her shoulders 'Fair enough'

Jack regarded her for a few moments more; he noticed she met his stare calmly with no hint of nervousness and that she made no attempt to break the silence. 'Appreciating that you got no choice in the matter at all, we are very grateful for you coming to help us out…'

For a moment Ellie's face remained an impassive mask then she seemed to relax slightly 'I'm looking forward to working with you all, it will make a nice change of pace from Miami'

Jack opened a file on his desk; 'I have your record here,' he saw her mouth twitch in amusement and struggled to keep the smile from his own face, 'disrespectful of authority, failure to follow orders, lacking in tact…' he looked up at her, 'anything you'd like to say?'

She shrugged her shoulders looking unconcerned, 'I have respect for authority, I always follow orders and I can be very tactful….as long as the person I'm dealing with isn't a complete moron.' she met his gaze squarely and continued;

'All of those comments come from an operation I was involved with earlier this year when some pre pubescent desk jockey from Washington decided that he knew better than a SAC with 15 years experience. Had I followed orders, had I respected his authority and had I kept my mouth shut then a 5 year old girl would be dead now instead of at home with her parents,' she paused, 'so frankly I don't care what he's written about me and if you look at the evaluations that I've had from everyone else I've worked for I think you can see that they would say my good points considerably outweigh my occasional inability to keep my mouth shut.'

Jack sat back in his chair an amused look on his face and waved a hand toward the file; 'I agree, in fact I would say your file closely resembles mine. Presumably as long as you don't think me a moron we should get on fine'

Her mouth twitched again, 'From what I've heard we should be OK'

Jack laughed, 'well we don't have an active case at the moment so the others are catching up on paperwork. Seems to me that you could do with catching up on some sleep……where are you staying?'

'Apparently they have me in one of those apartment type hotels a couple of blocks from here, the Sutton or something like that?

'Yeah, I know it. One of us will run you to the hotel and you can catch up on some of your missed sleep' Jack saw the look that crossed her face, and continued, 'I insist…….there's nothing you can do here and you're no use to me this tired. Believe me; I'll call if a case comes in'

She seemed to struggle for a moment then shrugged her shoulders and nodded her head, 'Thanks that sounds wonderful…….'

Jack watched as she headed back to the bullpen then picked up her file again, a thoughtful look on his face. She was right; all her appraisals indicated a smart, dedicated, resourceful FBI agent. There were a few comments in there that told Jack that she wasn't afraid to speak her mind, but he knew he couldn't hold that against her given his record and anyway it wasn't that which was bothering him.

He placed the file back on the desk and stared into the bullpen. Some sort of discussion was going on, he assumed about who would run Ellie to the hotel; it was obviously resolved because he watched as Ellie and Sam headed for the elevator. They were laughing about something and looked to be getting on well. Danny looked less happy and Jack grinned; he hadn't missed how Danny had been looking at her earlier.

He flipped the file open again and stared at the information on the top; it was a file note from Ed Williams, her SAC in Miami setting out the events of two days ago when she and Victor had their run in; he flipped back further to the case at the start of the year and the memo from the Washington Agent she had ignored…………………….

He closed the file again, aware of a feeling of unease; it wasn't what she had done that bothered him, in both cases, reading between the lines, she had been right, it was the fact that there was no OPR investigation after she ignored orders given by a superior and no reprimand letter after she had her run in with the Deputy Director, and that wasn't right and that was what was making him uneasy……………….

He closed the file again and picked up the phone…………..'Hi, yes, I'd like to speak to Ed Williams please, it's Jack Malone from New York MPU………………………..ok, well when he gets back tomorrow can you get him to call me please, it's with regard to Special Agent Shaughnessy………….'


	4. Chapter 4

The ringing of a cell phone forced her to consciousness; she groped for the bedside light but it wasn't where it usually was, nothing was where it usually was…...then she remembered;

She sat up, looking for the phone and found it on the floor next to the bed

'Shaughnessy'

'Hey Ellie, its Martin sorry to ring so early but we've got a case'

'No, its fine……' she squinted at the bedside clock, the red figures showed her that it was 05:22am; she collapsed back into the pillows, her hand rubbing her eyes in an effort to wake up.

Stifling a yawn she asked 'what do I need to do?'

'Jack wants the two of us to head out to Queens. I'll swing by and pick you up in 30 minutes if that's OK? I'll brief you on the case in the car'

'Sure, I'll wait for you downstairs'

She was downstairs waiting on the curb as Martin pulled up. She climbed in, 'thanks for picking me up' he smiled and indicated toward her suit;

'Your 'suitable clothing' arrived then?'

Ellie started to laugh, 'it arrived yesterday afternoon, which was a relief; I didn't fancy facing Jack today in my jeans'

Martin gestured toward a large cup in the cupholder; 'Danny said you like your coffee black, no sugar and very very strong'; he pulled out into the traffic as Ellie took the lid from the cup and drank, enjoying the feeling of warmth as it slipped down her throat.

'Thanks, just what I needed' she turned so she could look at Martin, watching him as he weaved the car confidently in and out of the early morning traffic. They stopped at an intersection and he turned toward her and saw her staring at him

The weight of her stare seemed to make him uncomfortable and he shifted slightly in the seat; 'do I have something on my face?' he tried to see in the rear view mirror

Ellie cursed herself silently, _Idiot! You must be tired, I mean, how obvious was that…………._.

'No, sorry, I didn't mean to stare' she cast frantically around for a believable explanation, 'it's just you really don't look at all like Vic….your father' _oh nice one Ellie, as if that isn't a subject you should leave well alone_

The traffic started moving again; Martin glanced quickly at her, surprise closely followed by amusement on his face; 'no I look more like my mothers side of the family' he changed lanes, ignoring the sounds of several drivers hooting their disapproval of the maneuver, 'what about you, do you look more like your mothers family or your fathers?'

Ellie paused for a heartbeat ,then keeping her voice as light as possible, 'Same as you, I take after my mothers side of the family' he didn't react other than to smile and before he could ask any more questions she took the opportunity to change the subject

'So you were going to brief me on the case?'

'Yeah, we have Sarah Carter, aged 16; went to a friend's house to study last night. Was due home at 10pm but, it seems, didn't arrive back. Her parents are both doctors; her mother was working the night shift, her father was at home working on a medical paper; he lost track of time and only realised she wasn't home at 2am when he finished for the night. He rang around all of her friends; no one had seen her, including the friend she was supposed to be studying with.'

'So what time did she leave to go and 'study' last night?'

'According to her parents she left the house at 7:00pm. Her mother left at 9:30pm to be on shift for 10pm.'

Ellie checked her watch, 'so she's been missing for 11 hours. Do we know if there is a boyfriend?'

'Not yet, that's what we've got to find out. Jack wants us to interview the parents and set up the trap and trace. Danny and Sam are looking into her phone and bank records and are running some background on the parents. Jack would have come to see the parents but apparently something urgent has come up and...'

The ringing of her cell phone interrupted him; Ellie threw Martin an apologetic look as she answered, 'Shaughnessy'

'Morning, how did you sleep?' she smiled, recognizing his voice

'Very well thank you and thanks for giving my coffee order to Martin'

Danny laughed, 'well I thought with another early start you'd probably need some more caffeine' his voice had dropped slightly and she felt the faintest of shivers run down her back, there was definitely something very attractive about him…….she forced herself to concentrate on what he was saying

'Sam and I ran some background checks and you should know that Sarah is adopted'

'Yeah? How old was she?'

'They adopted her when she was six weeks old' Ellie could hear a voice that sounded like Sam's call to Danny, then, 'hang on'

She could hear the sound of muffled voices as Sam and Danny discussed something; she placed her hand over the mouth piece and turned to Martin, 'Apparently Sarah is adopted……' she stopped as she heard Danny again

'Ellie? Sam's managed to get into her emails through her ISP. She's been emailing a man who she believes is her father. We are running it down now and I'll call as soon as we know anything'

Ellie put the phone down; 'Apparently Sarah has been in contact with a man she believes is her real father. Danny and Sam are trying to track him down' she looked at the expression on Martin's face, 'what's the matter?'

Martin frowned, 'second case I worked when I started here was a boy who thought he had found his real father. He found himself in some trouble and ran away to try and see him because he was worried his adoptive parents wouldn't understand…'

'Let me guess, he wasn't his real father, he was a pedophile working the chat rooms?'

'Yeah, we were lucky, we got there in time'

They pulled up outside the Carters house; Ellie sighed, 'well let's hope that we're in time today'

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

'OK, thanks' Sam snapped her cell phone shut and turned to Danny

'There's been no activity on her ATM since yesterday morning when she withdrew $20. Her cell phone records show the last call was made to a Lindsay Madigan at 6:29pm yesterday. Since then nothing and it appears to be switched off because we can't get a GPS location on it either'

'Isn't Lindsay Madigan the school friend she told her parents she was going to be studying with?' Danny didn't look at Sam as he navigated the heavy morning traffic'

'Yes, the cops questioned her and she's admitted that the phone call at 6:29pm was Sarah asking her to cover for her. She asked her where she was going but all Sarah told her was that it was a secret and that she would tell her all about it in the morning at school'

'Do we know when the phone was switched off?'

'No, but Lindsay says she tried to call Sarah at 7:20pm and that her call went straight to voicemail'

Danny nodded thoughtfully, 'so we know she left the house at 7:00pm and that her phone was switched off by 7:20pm' they were stationary in a traffic queue; he turned to look at Sam,

'Why does a teenage girl turn her cell phone off?'

Sam shrugged, 'from what I can see teenagers don't ever turn the damn things off'

'Exactly, so, if her phones off it's probably because someone else has switched it off. If that's the case and someone did take her they must have done it between 7:00pm and 7:20pm and that means it must have happened within a couple of blocks of her house…….'

Before Danny finished speaking Sam was on the phone organizing a house to house canvass of the area.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

'Excuse me Dr Carter; I need a quick word with Agent Shaughnessy'

Martin saw Ellie turn to look at him, a question in her eyes before she turned back to Gavin Carter, 'excuse me a moment please'

They headed into the hall and then out onto the front porch; 'You got anything?'

She looked at him, an unreadable expression in her eyes

_Where have I seen her before? _Since they had first met yesterday Martin had been increasingly certain that they had met somewhere before but he couldn't think where………..

'Well, according to her father they hadn't told Sarah she was adopted because' she flipped open her note book, 'we never found the right time' she closed the notebook again and stared out across the front lawn, a frown on her face then looked back at Martin, 'this guy has a more letters after his name than could fit on a page, he has a genius level IQ and he doesn't know how to tell his daughter that she's adopted'

Martin shook his head, 'the mother's no better; I can hardly get a thing out of her. All she does is cry and call Sarah her 'baby'' he paused, 'have you asked him about whether he knew she was in contact with someone she believes is her real father?'

Ellie shook her head, 'no, thought I'd wait and see what Sam and Danny come up with before throwing that one into the mix. Do you want to talk to her father some more and I'll look at Sarah's room?

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Danny stared at the house; 'you're sure this is right house?' he held his hands up in a gesture of surrender at the dirty look Sam sent him, 'OK, it just doesn't look like the house of a pedophile'

Sam stared at him, eyebrows raised and saw him shrug in acknowledgement, 'OK, so there isn't a type of house that they would……you know what I mean' he sounded aggrieved.

'hmmm, OK yes, it does a look a little too white picket fence, 2.2 kids, Golden Retriever country, but that doesn't stop someone from……..' her voice trailed off as they saw a clearly pregnant woman, two young children and a chocolate brown Labrador emerge from the house, closely followed by a man in his mid thirties.

Their eyes met and she saw Danny's mouth turn up at the corner, amused by how close the family came to the description Sam had just given, 'maybe you should mention about the dog to them' he murmured as they began walking up the path toward the family

Sam shot him a filthy look; 'Mr Hogan? Mr Charles Hogan?'

The man turned to look at them, 'Yes, can I help you?'

'FBI Mr Hogan, Special Agent Spade' she showed him her badge and then indicated toward Danny, 'Special Agent Taylor, we need to talk to you about Sarah Carter'

She saw Charles Hogan exchange a look with the woman Sam assumed to be his wife; 'Honey, do you want to go on and I'll call as soon as I know what this is about?'

'Actually Mr Hogan, we need to speak to your wife as well' Danny smiled; Sam saw the Hogan's hesitate, then Charles Hogan shrugged his shoulders

'OK, well come in'; he sounded bemused but nothing was giving Sam any indication that he had anything to hide

Once in the house Danny took Lucy Hogan through to the living room and Sam followed Charles Hogan into the study

'So how can I help you Agent Spade'

Sam took out a picture of Sarah Carter; 'do you know this girl Mr Hogan?'

Charles Hogan stared at the picture for a moment, a smile on his face. He looked up at Sam, meeting her gaze as he said with pride in his voice 'yes I do, she's my daughter'

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Jack looked up as the door to his office opened

'Malone'

He stood up and held out his hand, 'Director Fitzgerald'

Victor shook his hand briefly before dumping his case on Jack's desk. Everything about him told Jack that he was annoyed about something

'Can I get you a coffee?'

'No, I only have 10 minutes before I'm needed upstairs for a meeting and we need to discuss Agent Shaughnessy'

Jack stared at him blankly but Victor didn't appear to notice as he continued, 'she won't be staying in New York. I'm having her transferred to San Francisco and I'll arrange for a replacement agent to be assigned here until Special Agent Johnson is back in the field again'

Jack felt the suspicions of yesterday return, 'do you mind me asking why she won't be staying?' Jack tried to keep his voice disinterested; he watched Victor carefully and saw a slightly shifty look in his eyes

'She should never have been sent here…, she's needed for an assignment in San Francisco'

He was lying; Jack was certain he was lying. He stared at Victor and noticed that he seemed unwilling to meet his eyes.

Victor picked up his case and turned to leave the office as he asked; 'where's Martin?'

He's with Ellie out in Queens interviewing………' he stopped at the expression in Victor's eyes, 'what's the matter?'

Victor seemed to pull himself together; 'nothing, nothing but I need to see him before I head back to DC tonight; do you know when he will be back in the office?'

'I'll find out and let you know' Jack stared as Victor nodded abruptly in acknowledgement and left the office

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Martin walked into Sarah's room looking for Ellie; he found her searching through a closet.

'How are you getting on?'

She sat back on her heels looking up at him 'well, she's good at hiding things but…..' she moved so she was on all fours, one hand pushed under a shelf, stretching in an attempt to try and reach something. She continued, '……the advantage of a lousy childhood is that you know all the hiding places because you used them yourself'

Martin heard a ripping sound and saw her smile as her arm emerged clutching a note book. She wasn't looking at him; instead she was flicking through the pages filled with a sprawling hand. As interested as he was in the notebook he found time to register her comment about her childhood.

She stood up still reading the notebook, her eyebrows raised at whatever it was she was reading. Martin waited for her to finish, watching the expression on her face…………….._where the hell do I know her from_

He opened his mouth to ask her, but before he could they heard footsteps approaching the room and Danny and Sam walked in.

Martin noticed that Danny's eyes went straight to Ellie, a broad smile on his face. He noticed that Ellie returned the smile and that their eyes held each others gaze a fraction longer than required.

'How are you getting on' he turned at the sound of Sam's question and shrugged his shoulders

'Well Ellie's just found some sort of diary so we're hoping that there is something in it because Sarah's parents seem to know less than nothing about their daughters life' he looked over at where Danny was stood very close to Ellie, reading the notebook over her shoulder; Martin noticed that she didn't seem to mind.

He looked back and saw a faint frown on Sam's face as she watched him watching Ellie; he nodded his head toward Ellie and Danny and raised an eyebrow. He saw the frown disappear and a fleeting look of relief cross her face before she smiled back at him.

'How did you get on with the 'father'? Martin wondered at the relief he had seen on Sam's face

'Well, it turns out he is her natural father and not a pedophile' Sam shot a look at Danny as she said this; Danny pulled a face at her and went back to reading the notebook over Ellie's shoulder

Ellie looked up at Sam, 'so how did she find him?'

'It wasn't a closed adoption. Sarah seems to have found out she was adopted when she went through her parents things after someone mentioned that she didn't look like either of them. The paperwork showed her natural parent's names and she traced him through that' Sam shrugged slightly, 'Her mother died when she was born and Charles Hogan was 18 and about to start college; he didn't think he could manage and so she was put up for adoption'

'How long have they been in touch?' Martin perched on the corner of Sarah's desk

Danny looked up from his attempt to read over Ellie's shoulder; 'About 6 months. Charles Hogan has been trying to get her to tell the Carters but Sarah won't. I spoke to his wife and she's always known that he had a daughter and seems happy that she has made contact. She say's Sarah gets on well with the whole family' Danny looked at Sam, 'what did you think?'

Sam nodded, 'I'm convinced they didn't have anything to do with Sarah disappearing; for a start they were all at Lucy Hogan's parents' last night from 5pm until 8pm. Their last contact with Sarah was two days ago. She was supposed to call them tonight to arrange to see them at the weekend.'

Martin nodded, his eyes going back to Danny's attempts to read over Ellie's shoulder; he bit his lip to stop himself laughing as he noticed that Danny was standing far closer than he needed. He couldn't resist;

'Anything interesting in the notebook?' Martin saw Danny scowl slightly as he caught the tone in Martin's voice but Ellie appeared not to notice as she looked up at Martin and Sam

'Yeah, she has a boyfriend'

Sam stared; 'but nothing showed on her phone records and her parents didn't know anything about a boyfriend'

Ellie shrugged, 'well she has one or she has an imaginary one…..'

Martin's cell phone rang; he held his hand up apologetically

'Fitzgerald'……………'hey Jack'……..he listened for a moment a frown appearing on his face, 'now?'…………he listened some more, then 'ok, we'll head back now'

Three pairs of eyes stared at him

He turned to Sam, 'he wants the two of us back in the office to interview Lindsay Madigan' he turned to Danny and Ellie, 'he wants to two of you to keep following the leads we have here'

There was a silence; Danny and Sam were both looking hard at him, knowing full well that Jack rarely spilt a pair up once they were working together

'What's up?' the tone of Danny's voice told Martin that he knew there must be some reason why this was happening and that he wasn't about to be fobbed off with an excuse

Martin sighed, 'apparently my father is in New York today and needs to see me about something and Jack thinks it would be a good idea if Ellie avoided him. He wants a female agent to interview Lindsay so that means Sam and I head back and the two of you stay here'

They all looked at Ellie who shrugged; 'suits me, I'd rather not see him either'

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

'Jack put the phone down after calling Martin and checked the time. He wondered if it was worth putting another call into Miami…………….

The phone rang

'Malone'

'Hey Jack, it's Ed Williams from Miami MPU, I got your message'

'Oh hey, thanks for calling back' Jack hesitated a moment, 'look this is a little delicate, but I need some information on Ellie Shaughnessy'

He heard Ed Williams laugh, 'I bet you do. I should apologise; I wasn't thinking about the fact that Victor's kid works for you when I put her in for the temporary duty'

'Er, you've lost me Ed'

There was silence at the other end of the line, then, 'sorry, what was it about her that you wanted to know?'

Jack felt as if he was standing on shifting sand; he hesitated for a moment, 'well, I was curious about why she seems to have escaped an OPR investigation after the Bellamy kidnapping earlier this year and how she seems to have escaped a reprimand after her argument with Victor the other day'

He heard Williams laughing at the other end of the phone

'Come on Jack, there has to be some advantage to banging the Deputy Director'


	5. Chapter 5

'So, what do you think of our new colleague then?' Sam turned slightly in her seat so she could see Martin's face as he answered

She saw him frown slightly and think for a minute, then, 'I like her but I can't shake the feeling that I've met her somewhere before' his frown deepened, 'it's really bugging me that I can't think _where_ though'

'Does Ellie think you've met before?'

Martin shook his head, 'I haven't asked her and she hasn't said anything' he sounded mildly frustrated

Sam considered for a minute, 'maybe she just reminds you of someone you know'

They had stopped at some traffic lights; Martin turned his head and looked at her thoughtfully 'could be, but if it is I have no idea who that person is' he grinned at Sam, 'anyway, what do you think?'

Sam nodded, 'I like her a lot; we were talking when I took her to the hotel yesterday and we've arranged to go shopping on Saturday' she ignored Martin as he rolled his eyes and continued, 'we thought we would head over to Aragon in the evening'

She looked at Martin, trying hard to keep her voice casual, 'I was wondering if you and Danny fancied coming too, if neither of you is busy that is, make it a sort of team outing' she held her breath and waited for his response

'Sounds good, what did Danny say?'

She let herself breath again, 'I didn't get a chance to ask him but I will when he gets back to the office later' _no point asking Danny until I know if you're interested, _she turned to look at him, 'so, you fancy that then do you?' _Please, please, please say yes; I'm sure I can get Ellie to distract Danny for long enough for us to talk……………_

He grinned, 'yeah sounds good, let me know what time'

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Jack put the phone down thinking about what he had just heard and trying to reconcile it with the woman that had been sitting across from him the previous day.

He supposed it all made sense, the lack of an OPR investigation and no letter of reprimand, if she was having an affair with Victor Fitzgerald but………….Jack stared at the file in front of him; he couldn't see it, she didn't strike him as the type, but then Sam wasn't the type either………….

He frowned, remembering the harshness of Ed Williams words

_She's banging him, has been since the start of the year after she was up at Quantico for a couple of weeks on a course. Couldn't understand why he was all of a sudden so interested in her then of course we had the Bellamy kidnapping. Any other agent would have had their ass handed to them on a plate but not her and then they have a huge blow up in the office and again, nothing. It doesn't take a genius to work it out, particularly when you take into account the number of times he's called her._

'_What, he's called her at the office' Jack couldn't imagine that Victor would ever be so careless_

'_Not at the office no, but he's called her'_

Jack suspected that Ed Williams had come across that information in a less than honest fashion because he had become very evasive when Jack had questioned him.

He supposed that all of the evidence pointed at them having an affair; he'd seen the evidence with his own eyes just an hour earlier but still he couldn't believe that she would…………..his thoughts turned to Martin; he hoped he could keep the rumours from him but knowing the FBI like he did, he was surprised that someone hadn't already told him……………..

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

'OK, well I've checked and there is a Kyle Thompson in Sarah's class at school. I've got an address for him; he lives a few blocks from here' Danny flipped his cell phone closed and looked at Ellie, 'did you get anything from the parents?'

Ellie rolled her eyes, 'no; they are still trying to understand why the girl they gave 'everything' to could possibly want to contact her birth father. I asked about Kyle Thompson and Sarah's mother was practically in hysterics' she stared moodily at a photo of Sarah and her parents as she continued;

'You know it strikes me that they gave her everything except their time; she sounds like she was starved of love and so she looked to Kyle Thompson and Charles Hogan to give her what she couldn't get at home'; she looked at Danny

Danny nodded; 'well let's hope Kyle Thompson can tell us where she is, according to his mother he's at school……….'

His cell phone rang; 'Taylor' he listened intently for a minute, 'ok thanks'

Ellie was watching him, her eyes slightly narrowed, asking the question. Danny put his phone back in his jacket pocket

'The house to house has turned up something. Apparently a girl matching Sarah's description was seen being forced into a blue SUV last night at 7:15pm two blocks from her house. They checked and they've found her phone in the gutter………….'

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

'Lindsay, I understand that you promised Sarah that you would keep her secret but she could be in danger and what you know might make the difference between us finding her or not'

Sam kept her voice calm as she spoke to Lindsay Madigan when in reality she wanted to shake her and wipe the self righteous expression of her smug little face.

'But really Agent Spade, you don't understand, we took a _blood oath_' Lindsay dropped her voice as she said this, a serious expression on her face

Sam ground her teeth in frustration but somehow managed to keep a smile plastered across her face

'Lindsay' she saw the girl look at her warily as she detected a slight change in Sam's voice, 'you can either tell me what you know or be charged with impeding a federal investigation', she saw the girls eyes widen in horror as Sam lent forward, the smile now absent.

'Well, I er……….' Lindsay stared at Sam who met her gaze, a stony look on her face, 'she told me that she had met her real father and that she wanted to go and live with him and his wife'

Lindsay paused looking worried, 'and?' Sam prompted impatiently

'I don't know……I mean I know that she had started seeing Kyle but she said something was going to happen last night that was going to be really special' she looked at the expression on Sam's face and stopped

Sam leant forward 'come on Lindsay, you know exactly what's going on don't you, Sarah was going to spend the night with Kyle wasn't she?'

Sam stood up looking at the tear stained face of Lindsay Madigan as she nodded. 'Right then, do you know where they were going?'

'No, honestly I don't, Sarah said that Kyle wanted it to be really special and had booked somewhere really expensive for them'

Sam stared at her for a moment then handed her a tissue and a bottle of water, 'stay here, I'll be back in a minute'; she headed out of the room to where Martin was stood talking on his cell phone on the other side of the two way glass

As she approached he finished his call; 'OK, that was Danny. Kyle didn't show up for school today which is the first hint his parents had that he hadn't been home all night'

At the expression of disbelief on Sam's face Martin shrugged and shook his head, 'Don't even go there. Danny and Ellie have spoken to the parents and it turns out that Kyles father reported his car stolen this morning along with a credit card…………………'

Sam started to laugh, 'Oh don't tell me, Romeo took it to show his girlfriend a good time'

Martin nodded, 'Yep; the credit card was used to book a room at the Waldorf and the car is parked in their lot. Danny and Ellie are on their way now but from the information we have it looks as if Kyle and Sarah checked in last night and haven't checked out yet' he grinned at her, 'according to the hotel they requested a late check out when they ordered breakfast this morning'

Sam nodded a smile on her face, 'well at least he knows how to treat a girl' she grinned at Martin and felt her breath suddenly sucked from her body at the look he was giving her. She stood frozen as he leaned in slightly

'I seem to remember that we rather enjoyed the breakfast at the Waldorf…………'

She stared at him in amazement, no room for doubt, he was definitely flirting…………..her brain felt as if it had stalled and so she was shocked to hear her voice…………

'I seem to remember enjoying rather more than the breakfast' her voice sounded low and sultry to her ears; the look in Martin's eyes told her that it sounded sultry to his as well. They stood, staring at each other………….she opened her mouth to suggest that they needed to talk…..

'Martin'

They both jumped at the sound of Victor's voice. Sam saw the irritation on Martin's face swiftly replaced with a polite mask

'Sir'; he shook Victor's hand. 'You know Samantha…….'

Before he could complete the introduction Victor had smiled dismissively at Sam and placed a hand on Martin's shoulder

'I need to talk to you, we'll use Jack's office, excuse us Agent Spade'

He turned and walked toward Jack's office leaving Martin looking after him, a thunderous expression on his face. He turned to Sam, opening his mouth to apologise but she waved it away,

'Go on, don't keep him waiting' she smiled at him and headed back into the interview room

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Danny watched as the car carrying the Carters and Sarah pulled out into the Manhattan traffic

'I know what I wanted to ask you; what was all that about Sarah being forced into the car? Did you ask Kyle?' Ellie had arrived at his side after seeing the Thompson's off.

Danny started to laugh, 'ah well that seems to have been a bit of over enthusiastic kissing that our witness interpreted as an assault. Kyle said that they hadn't realize that Sarah had dropped her phone until this morning…………'

'Over enthusiastic kissing?' she had a broad smile on her face, 'what it is to be young and in love'

Danny could think of a number of things to say at this point, most of which would probably get him into trouble so instead he nodded his head in the direction of the car carrying Sarah and her parents, 'do you think they'll be OK?'

Ellie pulled a face as she shrugged her shoulders; 'I think they intend to spend more time with her but I think they are both addicted to their work and the real test comes in a couple of weeks when things are back to normal and they have to choose between spending time with her and something that's happening at work………'

Danny looked at her thoughtfully, 'you sound as if you know from experience'

She didn't look at him, instead she continued to stare at the traffic, her eyes suddenly sightless as if she was remembering something…………..

The silence stretched and Danny began to wish he hadn't said anything; he dropped his hand onto her arm, 'hey, sorry…….'

He felt her jump slightly at his touch and she turned to look at him, her eyes slowly coming back into focus. She turned abruptly and began to walk to the car, Danny following her, not knowing what to say. She stopped suddenly...

'My mother was an artist; when she was working on a project I could have been in outer space for all she knew and cared' her back was to him so he couldn't see her face and suspected that she preferred it this way

He hesitated then deciding that he might as well, asked, 'What about your father?'

For a moment she said nothing then she turned to look at him; he was surprised to see the amused expression on her face; 'that loser disappeared before I was born', she didn't give him time to respond, instead she continued, 'what about your parents?'

Danny smiled wryly to himself; he never really spoke to anyone about his parents, about what happened………but then he had asked about hers………… 'they died when I was eleven'; he tried to keep his tone matter of fact but could tell from her face she knew she had touched a nerve

'Sorry'

He shrugged; the silence between them grew until she stepped towards him, lowering her voice so that he had to bend toward her to hear what she was saying

'Maybe we should both just write down all the personal stuff we are happy to talk about and then exchange lists'; he started to smile as she continued, 'you know sort of I'll show you mine if you show me yours type of thing'

They were standing very close together and she was staring him straight in the eye; he moved his head a fraction closer, maintaining eye contact as he dropped his voice 'you can show me yours any time you like'

Her eyes widened and for a moment he wasn't aware of the street, the traffic, he wasn't aware of anything but how close they were standing to each other and how much closer he would like to get

His cell phone rang shattering the moment; Danny didn't know whether to be pissed off or grateful that the moment was gone……….

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Jack walked in to his office to see Martin staring at nothing in particular, an angry expression on his face

'You OK?'

Jack saw him jump slightly before he turned to face him; 'Yeah, sorry, just…….oh you know, my father…………'

Jack studied him carefully; he certainly looked fed up but he didn't look as if he had heard anything too awful…………….'I assume it was family related' he made his voice sound casual

Martin looked surprised and then shrugged his shoulders; 'to tell the truth I don't know what the hell it was about. He was asking me if everything was OK, if there was anything upsetting me' Martin frowned, 'I have no idea why'

Jack sat down at his desk, his mind working furiously; Victor was obviously worried that Martin might have heard something and Jack assumed that the 'something' was to do with Ellie…………what Jack couldn't understand was why Victor was so worried about Martin finding out; as Jack saw it that was going to be the least of his problems if it got up to the powers that be that he was having a relationship with an Agent……not to put too fine a point on it, his ass would be on the line………..

Jack realized Martin was staring at him, waiting for him to say something; Jack shrugged putting a bored look on his face,

'I've never understood your father and I never will; how's your paperwork coming'

Martin seemed unperturbed by the change in subject and grinned; 'it'll be on our desk by the end of the day if we don't get another case' he turned to go then stopped and turned back to Jack; 'You know, Ellie fits in really well, I think it's going to work well having her here until Viv and Elena get back'

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ellie laughed as Danny came around and opened the car door for her; 'are you trying to impress me Special Agent Taylor'

He threw her a look that sent heat flooding through her body; 'absolutely, is it working?'

_Hell yes, if it wasn't for the camera's everywhere…………….._She raised an eyebrow and tried to put a mildly amused look on her face

'I guess it's a start'

The look he gave her told her she wasn't fooling him but he didn't say anything, he just looked at her…………………….._ok Ellie, so now what do you do? You said you would never get involved with anyone within the FBI again……………but……………_

'Agent Shaughnessy, a word please'

She jumped slightly, aware that Danny was as surprised as she was as they turned to see Victor striding toward them.

'Agent Taylor, excuse us please'

Ellie saw Danny throw her a concerned look; she forced herself to smile at him; 'I'll see you upstairs in a minute' he looked at her again then turned to head toward the elevator, nodding a brief acknowledgement to Victor.

They stood in silence until the elevator door had closed then Victor turned to her

'What the hell are you doing accepting a post in New York……for gods sake, _Martin's_ here', he kept his voice low but the expression on his face was icy cold

She stared at him in amazement; 'what do you mean, why did I accept the post, I wasn't given a frigging choice…' she stopped and then glaring at him, 'anyway I thought it was you that arranged it'

He looked at her contemptuously, 'why would I arrange for you to work in the same office as my son; do you think I want him to know'

Ellie felt the pain knife through her; she didn't understand why it hurt so badly but it did...

'I've told you more times than I can count, I don't want you in my life, I don't want your help and I'm not asking for any favours' she scowled at him, 'which is lucky really because all you've managed to do is completely fuck up my life'

'Don't speak to me like that…'

'Then don't keep dragging this up………….I repeat for the 100th time I DON'T WANT YOU IN MY LIFE'

He was shaking with rage as he hissed; 'I've told Jack Malone that you're being moved to San Francisco with immediate effect. I won't have you………………..'

'YOU'VE WHAT' Ellie knew she should keep her voice down but the pain was now replaced with a rage that was driving all sensible thought from her head

He stepped back, shocked; she swallowed hard and managed to lower her voice again but knew her anger was evident in every syllable she spat at him

'If you move me to San Francisco then I will tell your precious son everything and I mean everything……………I'm staying in New York; get it sorted'

She turned and headed to the elevator; she didn't turn around, she didn't want to see the expression on his face…………………….


	6. Chapter 6

'So the supposed attack was 'over enthusiastic kissing'?' Jack had a broad smile on his face

'According to Danny' Martin was laughing

'OK, well as things go, this rates as one of our more successful cases; solved in record time and no dead bodies' Jack looked pleased as he glanced around the office. He looked back at Sam and Martin, 'where are Danny and Ellie?'

'I spoke to Ellie a few minutes ago and they were about five minutes or so from the building so I guess they will be back any minute' Sam was collecting together all of the documents relating to the case and packing them into a box file

Jack stood up, preparing to head back to his office; 'how are you all coping with having a new team member?'

'She fits in well, she's obviously good at her job and I've enjoyed working with her today' Martin glanced at Sam, his eyebrows raised, 'what do you think?'

'I like her….I think Danny likes her too' Sam had an innocent, 'butter wouldn't melt in _this_ mouth' look on her face and Jack looked suspiciously at her. Before he could say anything Sam had turned to Martin; 'have you remembered where you've seen her before?'

Jack forgot about asking Sam what she had meant by her remark about Danny liking Ellie, and looked at Martin

'You think you've seen her somewhere before?' He tried to keep his voice casual but knew he had failed when he saw Sam and Martin exchange surprised looks at his interest

'Well, I _think_ I have I just can't think where. I've nearly asked Ellie a couple of times but something's always come up before I get the chance. Sam thought maybe she reminded me of someone I know but I can't think who that is either' Martin shrugged his shoulders and looked curiously at Jack

Jack hoped his expression was one of casual interest as he nodded, 'well, maybe you were both at Quantico at the same time, something like that; it's a big place'

'Yeah, that's a thought, maybe………I'll ask her when I remember………' Martin's voice trailed off as he saw Danny approaching the table, a pissed off look on his face

Jack looked curiously at him; 'what's got you in a mood' he looked behind Danny and then back at him again, 'and where's Ellie?'

Danny scowled, 'we bumped into your father' he looked at Martin and then back at Jack, 'He wanted to speak to Ellie and I was surplus to requirements' He sat down heavily in a chair.

Martin groaned, 'Could he piss off any more of my colleagues today; none of you are going to be speaking to me soon'

'No one blames you for your father's charming manner when dealing with subordinates Marty' Danny managed a half smile

Jack lent toward Danny slightly, 'Did Victor say what he wanted to speak to her about?' he saw Danny look at him curiously as he replied

'No but I got the feeling that Ellie knew what it was about because she looked seriously pissed when he came over'

They were all staring at Jack now, curious about his interest. His cell phone rang and he offered a silent prayer of thanks for the chance to get away without having to dodge any questions

'Malone'

'Jack, it's Ed Williams'

_What the hell are you doing calling me again; _'Hi Ed, hang on a minute I'll just take this in my office' _because I doubt I want to be having this conversation infront of an audience_

He got up and headed to his office and closed the door

'OK, sorry about that, what can I do for you?'

'Ah, well this is by way of an apology really' Ed Williams sounded embarrassed, 'I really let rip this morning and was probably very unfair in the process'

'What, you mean she isn't having an affair with Victor?' _and you're worried if I say anything it will all land back on you_

'No, no, I'm certain that she is involved with him, it's just that she's a good Agent. I have no idea why she's got involved with him and to be honest; if it wasn't affecting things here, I wouldn't care. I just wanted you to know that you potentially have a tiger by the tail particularly since Victors kid works for you'

'Right, OK……..er, you mentioned that it was 'affecting' things at your end, what did you mean by that?' _and why do I get the feeling that I'm being played?_

'Well………………..' Williams appeared to hesitate before he continued, in a reluctant tone, 'one of our Agents, Jason Young, has had a promotion chance blighted because Victor has apparently learned about something that happened on a case a while ago. I let it go with an unofficial reprimand and the only other person who knew was Ellie………'

Jack waited to see if he was going to say any more but Williams had fallen silent at the other end of the phone

'So you think she told Victor?' _Ugghh, like I need the image in my head of Victor and Ellie indulging in pillow talk_……………….Jack mentally shook himself feeling faintly nauseous

'No one else could have; he looks to have lost out on the SAC role for one of the domestic terrorism units because of it. It's why I recommended her for the temporary role because things were getting very awkward in the team'

'Right, well, thanks for clearing that up for me' _what the hell am I saying, this is as clear as mud_

Jack put the phone down aware of a headache forming behind his eyes. His phone rang again

'Malone'

'Fitzgerald here. I've reviewed things again and I've managed to move another Agent to San Francisco. Agent Shaughnessy will be staying with you until Agent Johnson is back in the field again'

Jack was momentarily speechless

'Malone?'

'Yeah, right, well thanks for that……..' the phone had gone dead; Jack sat staring at the wall, feeling his headache worsen

He picked up the phone, hesitated a moment, then dialed a number. He listened for a minute to a recorded message; at the tone he spoke

'Hey Harold, its Jack Malone. I hope you don't mind the call but I need a favour; I need everything you can get me on Agent Eleanor Shaughnessy. Give me a call back when you get a minute will you'

He put the phone down……….he didn't like doing it but he had to know what he was dealing with here and this was the only way…………

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ellie stared angrily at her reflection in the mirror of the ladies restroom _this is your own fault, you should have taken his offer and moved to the NCIS or the CIA, you were just being your usual stubborn, pig headed self when you turned him down._

She frowned as she realized she had been washing the soap off her hands for the last 10 minutes. She turned the tap off and pulled out a paper towel…… _I mean, New York, how stupid was that, like you didn't know he would fly off the handle when he found out…..?_ She could feel a smile starting though…;_ go on admit it, you enjoyed winding the self righteous bastard up, didn't you?_

She left the bathroom and headed for the elevator, aware that Danny would be wondering where she was; she didn't put it past him to come looking for her either………… _hmmm, Danny……….what are you going to do about him then? You've not exactly been subtle have you, I mean, comments about casual sex minutes less than an hour after meeting him and 'I'll show you mine if you show me your's'……not your usual style is it?_

Ellie knew it wasn't her usual style at all but he had got under her skin and she was finding that she couldn't help herself, she just loved the look in his eyes when she flirted with him, and she loved the fact that nothing she said seemed to shock him, if anything he came back with something even more outrageous that left her stomach in knots and her knees feeling weak. She couldn't remember the last time any man had made her feel like that.

As the elevator rose to the 12th floor she wondered whether she should back off, after all, she had promised herself after the last disaster that she would never, ever get involved with someone she worked with. The door to the elevator opened and she stepped out and headed down the corridor toward the bull pen still thinking about Danny………….

'Ellie'

She stopped and looked around to see Jack emerging from his office; she smiled at him

'Hi'

She noticed he was looking closely at her and wondered why……….

'You OK?' he sounded concerned

She stared blankly at him for a moment, her mind still wondering what best to do about Danny then she remembered Victor and the threat to move her to San Francisco……………..

'I'm fine thanks'

The expression on his face showed that he didn't believe her

'Danny said that Victor grabbed you in the car park………'

'He didn't 'grab' me, there was definitely no physical contact I can assure you' the expression on her face and the comical note she used showed she was joking but she saw a reaction to her words flash across his face; she frowned _what the hell?_

An uncomfortable silence fell as they stared at each other and she could feel her face start to freeze into the mask she knew she used when she wanted to hide her thoughts _someone's been talking……….can this possibly get any worse?_

'Did you want me for anything?' she knew her voice was carefully polite and saw that he had noticed as well

He hesitated; for a moment she thought he was going to say something to her but he must have changed his mind, 'no, just saying hi'

She nodded, _just saying hi? Like hell you are……….._she smiled politely, 'OK, well, I'll make a start on the paperwork then if that's OK?'

Jack nodded and turned back to his office; Ellie headed for the bull pen sure that he was watching her…………..

She walked over to the conference table where she could see Sam, Danny and Martin all working on their reports; Martin looked up as she approached

'Hey, we were about to send out a search party for you' he glanced at Danny as he said this, a smirk on his face. Ellie saw Danny scowl at Martin before he looked at her, a slight frown creasing his forehead

'You OK?' she could see the concern in his eyes and felt a warm feeling in the pit of her stomach; she smiled

'I'm fine'

'So what did Victor want then?' Ellie tore her eyes away from Danny and looked at Sam

She grinned and shrugged, 'another chance to get pissed at me…..who knows'

She saw a small furrow crease Martin's brow as he leaned toward her; 'you know I'm sure we've met somewhere before; it's been bugging me since yesterday'

Ellie felt herself tense, _…well, to answer your earlier question Ellie, yes, it really can get worse_. She managed to smile at Martin and shrugged her shoulders, 'sorry, but you don't seem familiar at all……maybe I remind you of someone?' _OK, stop talking now…….._

Martin frowned, 'Yeah, maybe' he grinned at her, 'I'm sure it will come to me'

Ellie forced herself to laugh, 'Well let me know when it does' _please god that never happens……….._

'Martin and Danny are coming to Aragon with us on Saturday night' Sam closed her laptop, her report complete, and looked at Ellie

Ellie could feel Danny's eyes on her; with difficulty she kept her attention on Sam; 'that's good' _actually that's fantastic…….'_so tell me about this club then…'

Sam grinned, 'it's one of Danny's many finds; it plays mainly Latin music so it's great for dancing'

'If you like dancing of course' Danny stood up staring at her intently

'I love dancing and having lived in Miami for the last few years, I particularly love dancing to Latin music' she met his eye and saw the warmth in them…….she bit her lip to stop herself from laughing as she felt the now familiar reaction twist her stomach and weaken her knees……

She forced herself to look back at Sam expecting some reaction from her………….but she was staring at Martin and the look in her eyes made Ellie almost gasp. She looked back at Danny, a question on her face and saw he was grinning. He shook his head slightly at her, a grin still plastered across his face and nodded toward the coffee machine; she got the message…..

'Anyone fancy a coffee?' Ellie didn't wait for Sam or Martin to answer; instead she headed over to the percolator, Danny at her side

'Is there something going on between them?' Ellie spoke quietly as she started to make the coffee. Danny perched on the table; he bent his head toward her and kept his voice low as he answered;

'They dated last year for a few months; it ended a few months ago but it looks to me as if things might be starting up again………………' Danny let his voice trail off suggestively

'Hmm, so you think they are back together or just thinking about it?'

Danny pursed his lips as he thought about her question; 'you know I don't think they are back together yet, I think Marty would have said something to me if they were' his face changed and he stared at her, 'who's idea was it to go out on Saturday night?'

'Sam's, why?'

'Uh huh, and who's idea was it to invite Marty and I along?'

Ellie was starting to understand what he was getting at, she grinned, 'It was Sam's idea….AND' she cut him off before he could speak, 'she asked Martin and made sure he was up for it before she asked you'

Danny grinned, 'you know I should be hurt by that' he glanced over to where he could see Sam and Martin laughing together at the conference table, 'so, it looks like Samantha might have an ulterior motive for Saturday night' he looked at Ellie, 'what do you bet she asks you to distract me so that she and Martin can get some time on their own'

He had kept his voice low, his head close to hers, she smiled slowly;

'So, can you think of anything I can do to 'distract' you?' she was flirting shamelessly now and didn't care; the expression in his eyes was making it hard to breathe

He bent closer, his mouth next to his ear and she could feel his breath against her skin as he murmured 'I can think of lots of things you can do…………..'


	7. Chapter 7

Danny checked his watch as the cab arrived outside the bar; only 5 minutes late which wasn't bad considering how many times he had changed his mind about what he was going to wear. He paid the driver and headed inside feeling his stomach churning in anticipation of the evening to come, in a way it hadn't since his teenage years.

The bar was only just starting to fill up with the Saturday night crowd and so he had no difficulty in spotting Martin; he was relieved to see that Ellie and Sam hadn't arrived yet. He slid onto the bar stool next to Martin who looked around grinning and pushed a drink toward him

'Club soda OK for you?'

'Great, thanks' he took another look around, 'the girls not here yet?'

'Sam called about 5 minutes ago; apparently they're running late, something to do with shoes I think; she said they'd be another half an hour'

Danny grinned at the slightly baffled look on Martin's face as he continued, 'I never could understand that, she's got about 100 pairs of the damned things but never seems to have a pair to go with what she wants to wear'

Danny shrugged, 'can't help you with that one, I've never understood this weird relationship women seem to have with shoes' he sat back in his seat and looked curiously at Martin

'So how are you and Sam getting on these days?'

Martin stared at him for a moment then shook his head slightly, 'to tell the truth I don't know. We sort of got past the break up and I'd have said we were really good friends now but its felt different this week…………well, she's been different this week, almost as if she's flirting with me….' his voice trailed away and he had a perplexed look on his face that had Danny laughing

Martin stared at him, an expression of amused annoyance on his face

'What?'

'Martin, you don't think that maybe she's trying to let you know that she wants to give it another go?'

Danny watched the expression on Martin's face and could tell that this wasn't a totally new idea to him

'Well, if I'm honest, it has crossed my mind a couple of times………….'

Danny looked at him surprised; he had always thought that Martin still felt strongly for Sam and would like another chance to make their relationship work, but he didn't look that enthusiastic at the moment

'And you don't want to give it another go?'

Martin sighed, 'when we got together last time I think it was because she knew Jack was going to Chicago and………' he shrugged his shoulders, 'now he's about to be a father again and suddenly she's acting as if she wants to get back together……and I guess I'm wondering if it's got more to do with Jack than how she feels about me, you know, she maybe sees me as some sort of 'safe' option'

They sat in silence for a moment while Danny thought about what Martin had said; he had to admit, in Martin's shoes, he would probably think the same, still…………

'What if it isn't that? I mean Sam is a smart woman and this doesn't strike me as a knee jerk reaction to a change in Jack's circumstances; she's had a lot of time to think about this and it isn't like she doesn't know what to expect'

Martin looked confused, 'what do you mean 'it isn't like she doesn't know what to expect'?'

'OK, well leaving aside the issue of Jack, can I take it that you still love her?' Danny looked at Martin who hesitated then nodded; 'and if you knew she wanted to get back together because she loves you, that it isn't driven by her feelings about Jack's situation, would you want to give it another go too? Martin nodded again, a wary look on his face

Danny lent his elbow on the bar, 'in that case she must know that you would want everything out in the open this time, no hiding the relationship from everyone, so if she's prepared to accept that I would say that her wanting to get back together has nothing to do with Jack and everything to do with how she feels about you'

Martin stared at him suspiciously 'has she said anything to you about wanting us to get back together?'

Danny sighed and patted Martin on the arm, 'Marty, Marty, she doesn't have to _say_ anything. Ellie worked out that something was going on and she doesn't even know your history…or rather she didn't' Danny raised an eyebrow, a grin on his face, 'I wouldn't bet that after a day's shopping Sam hasn't confided in her'

He watched as Martin sat staring into space, fiddling with a coaster. Eventually he looked at Danny, a frown on his face

'So what do I do?'

Danny shrugged, 'Well that sort of depends on what you want to happen' Martin was looking at him blankly so he continued, 'you know, do you want to try again or would you rather stay as friends'

Martin was biting his lip, a thoughtful look on his face; Danny sighed, he really couldn't see the problem. Either he wanted to give it another go; in which case he had to give Sam the opportunity to tell him that she wanted to try again, or he had to tell her himself, or, if he didn't want to give it another go, he needed to let her know as gently as possible that it wasn't going to happen.

'Do you think you could distract Ellie for a while when we get to the club and give Sam and me a chance to talk?'

Danny started to laugh, remembering the conversation at the coffee machine a couple of days earlier. He saw Martin look at him as if he was slightly mad and managed to control himself and say casually

'Sure, I'll ask her to dance or something' _hmmm, best not to think of the something until later……….hopefully_

He realized that he hadn't sounded as casual as he had intended when he saw the smirk on Martin's face

'What?'

'Come on Danny, it would be obvious to a dead man that you like Ellie. Admittedly she's harder to read, but I'd say she likes you too so don't try and make it sound like you're doing me a favour when you say you'll ask her to dance...'

Martin's voice trailed away and he stood up staring at the door. Danny swung around and followed Martin's gaze to where he could see Ellie and Sam walking into the bar.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

'So what do you think?' Sam looked anxiously at Ellie

She was wearing a scarlet dress that clung to every curve, and a pair of killer high heels. Ellie laughed at the look on her face 'I think Martin will think he's died and gone to heaven'

Sam grinned wryly; 'I hope so' Ellie saw another anxious look flit across her face and decided to cut off the words she knew were coming

'Look, you know you want to give it another go and its obvious he still likes you a lot so you've got to tell him how you feel; chances are he feels the same' Ellie started to laugh, 'Anyway, if he's not sure now he damn well will be when he sees you in that dress'

Ellie saw Sam nod, a more determined look on her face; she smiled; 'Come on otherwise we are going to be even later than we said'

As she turned to go she caught sight of Sam's face in the mirror; her expression was now one of amusement;

'What's that look for?' Ellie checked quickly to make sure her dress wasn't caught up at the back

Sam's face now wore a smile of Cheshire cat proportions; 'you know, much as I want to see if Martin likes this dress, I think I'm going to enjoy watching Danny's face when he sees you in that………particularly when he sees the back'

Ellie laughed and looked at her reflection in the mirror; the deep blue colour of her dress made it less 'in your face' than the dress Sam had on, but it clung in all the right places and the sober colour was more than made up for by the plunging back…………

Ellie smiled, 'well, if we get going you wont have to wait too long to see what he thinks will you?'

They arrived at the bar and headed inside to find Danny and Martin. 'Can you see them?' Sam was scanning the crowd

Ellie searched the bar room; she saw Martin before she saw Danny and knew that he had spotted Sam, the pole axed look on his face told her that. She looked behind him and saw Danny stand up and look over in their direction……………..their eyes met and she saw him take in the dress in one swift all encompassing look and watched as a slow appreciative smile appeared on his face.

She glanced at Sam but she was just staring at Martin, _oh god I hope that they sort things out tonight because if they dont it is not going to be much fun working with these two next week………_

She prodded Sam gently to get her to start walking toward Martin and Danny………

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

They ended up staying at the bar for over an hour before heading across the street to the club. The line to get in was long but Danny spoke to the doorman and they quickly found themselves ushered in.

Once they were inside Martin felt a gentle tug on his arm and turning, saw Danny wink at him; he watched as Danny bent his head toward Ellie. whispering something to her. Martin was momentarily distracted from thinking about Sam by the expression on Ellie's face and wished he could hear what it was Danny had said to her. She stared at Danny for a moment then turned to Sam and said something before following Danny toward the dance floor.

Martin bent his head closer to Sam, breathing in her perfume

'Do you want to dance?'

She smiled at him; 'Not yet, let's get a drink and find a table upstairs'

Martin nodded and followed her toward the bar, his mind working furiously. All evening he had been unable to take his eyes off her in that red dress but he had managed to retain enough of his senses to notice how she kept her body turned toward him, how she looked right into his eyes when she spoke to him and how she had smiled _that _smile, the smile she used to smile at him when they were together. Now, when they were on their own, she wanted them to go upstairs, where it was quieter; he offered up a silent prayer that Danny was right and that he hadn't been mis-reading the signs……………..

They found a table with a view of the dance floor; Martin poured them both a glass of wine and for a moment there was an awkward silence. Martin stared down at the dance floor; watching, fascinated, as Danny and Ellie moved in time to the music and to each other.

'Wow, they really dance well together' he turned his head at the sound of her voice and saw that Sam was as fascinated as he was

'Want a bet that they'll end up in bed together by the end of tonight?' Martin cursed himself silently as soon as the words left his mouth and looked quickly at Sam to see her reaction, expecting that she would be angry or disgusted; instead she looked at him thoughtfully with an expression in her eyes he couldn't quite pin down...

'Actually no, I'd rather know what odds you're offering on us ending up in bed together before the end of the night'

Martin choked on the mouthful of wine he had just taken. When he had managed to swallow it he stared at her in amazement

'Did you just ask me…………..' she raised an eyebrow at him, he fell silent, utterly unable to form a coherent response

She lent forward; 'Martin, I've been trying to think of how to ask you this…….I mean, tell you this………….' She looked at him, frustration etched on her face as she struggled to find the words she needed to let him know how she felt, what she wanted. She stood up and he found himself on his feet too, not sure why………

She stepped toward him, closing the distance between them, an almost angry look on her face. She reached out, putting her hand on his chest and then stepping closer still, so that he could feel the heat emanating from her;

'I love you, I want you and unless you can think of a reason why not within the next 10 seconds, I intend to have you'

The look in her eyes made his knees almost buckle; he snaked one arm around her waist and slid the other through her hair.

'Your time is up' she spoke softly, slipping her arms around his neck; Martin didn't wait to hear any more, he lowered his face and captured her lips with his, feeling her arms tighten around his neck as she molded her body to his..

The kiss was soft, gentle; he pulled back for a moment; 'Sam if we do this it can't be like last time….' He didn't get the chance to finish before she spoke

'Martin, you can send an inter company memo announcing that we are together if you want to; I don't want it to be like last time, I don't want to hide, I love you and I want to be with you'

He stared at her, seeing the fierce look in her eyes as she desperately tried to convince him that she meant every word

He kissed her again, but this time there was nothing gentle about the kiss as their tongues tangled and their bodies pressed closer; Martin wasn't aware of anything other than the feel of Sam in his arms and the growing need to get closer still.

They broke apart and Martin could feel his heart racing as they stared at each other

'Do you want a drink?' she shook her head; 'Dance?' she shook her head again, a faintly pitying look on her face and he raised his eyebrows in mock surprise

She lent toward him; 'get your coat stud, you've pulled……………….'

In the cab the kissing became frantic as both were feeling the need to get closer; as they arrived outside Martin's apartment Sam pulled back suddenly

'We didn't let Ellie and Danny know we were leaving'

Martin forced himself to concentrate for a moment, instead of fantasizing about what he intended to do as soon as the front door was closed, and laughed; 'I really don't think they are going to miss us….'

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

He was aware of the looks they were getting and he was honest enough to admit to himself that he liked that other men were staring at her, wanting her. The heat was rising between them as they danced and she teased him with her eyes, her hands, her body……….as the music faded she stepped forward placing a hand on his chest;

'I need a drink'

He nodded and he followed her as they headed for the bar, enjoying the sight of her naked back and the way her hips swayed as she walked

'What do you want to drink?' he had to bend close so that she could hear him

'Water'

He looked curiously at her but turned to the bar tender and ordered the drinks. He turned back but she was facing away from him, staring up at the balcony where Sam and Martin were locked in each others arms;

He bent toward her, placing his mouth next to her ear; 'Looks like they managed to sort things out'.

She turned her head slightly and he could see her lips curve into a smile. He was suddenly aware of how close she was and felt an overwhelming desire to reach out and touch the silky soft skin on her back. She turned her head slightly further toward him, as if she knew what he was thinking and desire triumphed………

He reached out and placed his index finger at the base of her neck and slowly let it run down her spine to the small of her back, feeling her shiver at his touch. He watched, his arousal growing, as he saw her close her eyes, part her lips slightly and tilt her head back. She leaned against him and he slipped an arm around her waist as he bent down and brushed his lips against the base of her throat feeling the hitch in her breathing as his mouth grazed her skin.

She turned to face him, her eyes black with desire and raised her face, her lips slightly parted, inviting him to kiss her. He lowered his face, his lips almost touching hers as he murmured

'Time to go'

He saw her eyes widen in surprise then she slowly nodded and turned and he followed her to the door. As they emerged onto the street Danny could see Sam and Martin leaving in a cab, too busy with each other to notice anything or anyone else.

They stood for a moment then he felt Ellie take his hand and pull him in the direction of the rank of cabs across the street

'Wait'; Danny had been fantasizing about kissing her since he had picked her up at the airport four days previously and didn't intend to wait a minute longer

She stared at him in surprise

He pulled her to him, one hand around her waist, the other cupping her jaw and he saw the understanding flare in her eyes; she leaned closer and he brushed her mouth with his and felt her press closer, searching for more

He kissed the corners of her mouth, first the left side then the right, teasing her like she had teased him on the dance floor. He brushed her lips with his again and felt them open enticingly as she emitted a soft moan

He kissed her again, teasing her tongue with his and hearing her moan again; he cupped her face with both hands and kissed her slowly……….deeply.

He could feel her arms around him, her hands had slid under his shirt and he could feel her fingers dig into the muscles on his back; the passion between them was intensifying and he could feel himself on the edge of losing control; he pulled back and saw in her eyes that she was feeling the same

'Your apartment is closer' the huskiness of her voice was accentuated and he felt another wave of desire run through him. He took her by the hand and pulled her to the nearest cab.

The cab ride to his apartment passed in a haze of kissing and touching with Danny having to fight to stay in control, so great was the desire now to be close to her, be inside of her, to lose himself in her. He had no idea how they got from the cab to his apartment, he was only aware that they had arrived when they were outside of his front door.

Inside, he bolted the door without breaking off from kissing her; kissing that was now charged with something more as they were finally alone.

He felt her hands start to frantically unbutton his shirt as he kicked off his shoes; he broke the kiss for a moment, his forehead resting against hers as he stared into the blackness of her eyes. He slid his hands slowly over her body feeling her reponse as she arched against him. He found what he was looking for and slowly began to un zip her dress as their mouths melded together again. He felt her hand drop to his waistband and he groaned as he felt her undo his belt, her hand brushing against his erection………….

The ringing of the phone pierced Danny's consciousness and he felt Ellie hesitate for a moment;

'Ignore it, work would call on the cell phone' he struggled to speak coherently

She laughed shakily and pressed herself against him as he kissed her again; he started to ease the straps of her dress from her shoulders;

The phone stopped ringing; Danny heard the unmistakable click of the answer service and they both froze as they heard a woman's voice crying hysterically

'Danny………Danny, oh god Danny, please be there, please pick up the phone………….'


	8. Chapter 8

Danny found that, as tired as he was, he couldn't seem to sit still; instead he paced the hospital corridor, a frown on his face.

'Agent Taylor?'

He span around at the sound of his name to find a Doctor looking doubtfully at him

'Yes'

The Doctor hesitated a second longer, then; 'I'm Dr Whitely, I understand from Ms Marques that you are Mr Alvarez's brother?'

'Yes, I'm Rafael Alvarez's brother'; Danny wasn't about to explain why they had different surnames so instead gave the Doctor a fierce look and waved his FBI badge in his general direction. At the sight of the badge Dr Whitely looked a little more comfortable;

'OK, well we've stabilised your brother. He was lucky; if the knife had gone in an inch to the right he would be dead, however he lost a lot of blood and he's in a coma so now we have to wait and hope…………'; his pager went off. He looked at the message and then throwing Danny an apologetic look took off at a run down the corridor. around the corner and out of sight.

Danny realised his legs felt weak and sat down heavily in the nearest chair, his head in his hands as he took deep breaths to steady himself

'Danny'

He looked up to see Sylvia, tears pouring down her face, standing in front of him. He stood up and pulled her into his arms, holding her as sobs wracked her body

'Ssshhhh' he stroked her hair and rocked her gently, 'Rafi's tough; he'll be awake in no time' he gently tilted her face up and wiped the tears from her face as she tried to smile at him

'Thank you for coming with me; I didn't know what to do……'

Danny pulled her to him again and kissed the top of her head so that she couldn't see his face and the mixed emotions that he was too tired to hide

_Flashback_

_Danny stood staring into space trying to take in what Sylvia had just told him; Rafi had been stabbed. He was in critical condition; so much so that they had airlifted him from the hospital at Riker's and rushed him to St Luke's in Manhattan._

'_Danny' _

_He started at the sound of his name and as he felt a hand gently touch his arm, and turned to see Ellie staring worriedly at him_

'_What's happened?' _

_He could see genuine concern in her eyes as she stepped closer. He shook his head_

'_My brother's been stabbed; it's critical and he's in St Luke's. That was his girlfriend wanting me to go with her………' his voice trailed away as memories of the night crowded in._

_Ellie nodded, stepped back and grabbed his jacket, holding it out to him; 'you'll need this, hospitals are either far too warm or far too cold. Have you got your wallet and keys?'_

_He took the jacket; 'I'll run you back then get Sylvia……_

'_Where do they live?'_

'_Uhh?' Danny was caught off guard. He saw the raised eyebrow and swiftly gathered his thoughts; 'about 20 blocks from here'_

'_Well then dropping me back is miles out of your way, I'll get a cab' she hesitated and looked down at her dress and then up at Danny, a rueful smile on her face, 'I'd be grateful for the loan of a sweater though'_

_End of flashback_

He had loaned her a sweater and waited until she was in the cab before going to get Sylvia. He could still feel the hug she had given him and the kiss she had placed on his cheek as she had got into the taxi; her parting words still wrapping themselves warmly around his heart

'_Call me if you need anything' she had looked at his face and smiled, 'actually, call me anyway'_

He knew he should be thinking about Rafi but his thoughts kept returning to Ellie….

'Ms Marques, are you Ms Sylvia Marques?' a nasal New York accent intruded and Danny and Sylvia looked up to see a middle aged, slightly overweight, tired looking man approaching.

Sylvia glanced at Danny before she replied; 'yes I'm, Sylvia Marques'

The man let his gaze sweep over Sylvia to Danny taking in the fact that Danny still had an arm around her

'and you're Rafael Alvarez's fiancée are you' he made no effort to contain the sarcasm in his voice

'Yes, I am' Sylvia had obviously caught the inference of the look and the tone of his voice and Danny could feel her bristle in anger. He gently placed his hands on her shoulders and pulled her to one side as he stepped forward to face the man

'Who the hell are you'; Danny made no attempt to hide his annoyance at the man's attitude

'Detective Fordham, NYPD' he flashed his badge at Danny before he continued, 'I'm investigating the attempted murder of Rafael Alvarez. Now how about you tell me who you are and just how long you've been 'comforting' Ms Marques'

Danny took another step forward and had the satisfaction of seeing Detective Fordham take a half step backwards, he shoved his badge in his face; 'I'm Special Agent Danny Taylor, FBI. Rafael Alvarez is my brother'

He saw the expression on Detective Fordham's face change to one of recognition

'In that case Special Agent…..er' he squinted at the badge Danny still held out toward him, '_Taylor_' he sounded confused when he said his name but recovered quickly, 'you and I need to talk……..alone' this said with a glance toward Sylvia

'Why do you need to talk to him alone' Sylvia sounded even more distressed now. Danny tightened his arm around her shoulders in an effort to comfort her but kept his eyes on Detective Fordham, whose face now looked very serious. Danny made his decision; gently turning Sylvia so that she was looking at him and spoke softly but firmly

'Sylvia, let me speak to him alone….' as she started to protest he gripped her shoulders slightly tighter and continued, 'I _promise_ I'll come straight back and I'll tell you everything'

For a moment she stared at him, suspicion evident in her eyes, then all the fight seemed to go from her and she nodded and turning without a word, headed back into Rafi's room

Danny faced the Detective; 'Where do you want to talk?'

The older man sighed slightly and held out a hand to Danny; 'Look I'm sorry; we got off on the wrong foot' he met Danny's eyes without flinching and Danny could see that his eyes were red with tiredness; he took the offered hand and shook it

Detective Fordham nodded and then indicted a room along the corridor; 'We'll be OK in there'

The room was an office and Danny perched on the desk as he watched Detective Fordham shut the door. He seemed to be thinking about something and Danny gave him time to gather his thoughts

'Agent Taylor when was the last time you saw your brother?'

Danny stared at him, aware that a feeling of anger was growing inside of him; 'What's that got to do with anything' he knew he sounded abrupt but Detective Fordham didn't seem to take offence, instead he just stood propped up against the door, his arms crossed, waiting for him to calm down

Danny took a deep breath; 'sorry……I don't have the easiest relationships with my brother and with the job I have it makes it difficult, so……' he paused again before he continued, 'I don't see him that often. The last time would have been about three months ago'

Detective Fordham nodded and consulted a notebook; 'and when was the last time you heard from him?'

Danny shrugged; 'I speak to Sylvia once a week or so, see her and the kids every few weeks; she tells me how he is. Other than when I get to see him I don't speak to him by phone or anything he uses all his phone privileges to speak to Sylvia'

Detective Fordham closed his notebook and stared at Danny for a moment before speaking;

'Your brother was stabbed by a character known as 'The Knifeman', real name Paul Hardin. He's in Riker's for second degree murder, attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon. He's due to be tried in a couple of weeks for the murder of a policeman. If he gets convicted he's likely to get the needle'

Danny shrugged his shoulders, 'Never heard of him' as he saw the disappointment on the other man's face he continued, 'but you look as if you think I should have?'

Detective Fordham pulled a face, 'it's just that we've questioned Hardin. He's being very closed mouthed but he did say '_all Alvarez had to do was sort out that Fed brother of his and none of this would have been necessary_''

Danny stared at him; 'sort me out? I don't understand'

'We don't either, and unless we can figure it out we won't know until your brother comes out of his coma, because Hardin won't talk'

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

As the light crept through her window Ellie gave up the fight to sleep and slid from her bed. Thoughts of another bed, and of the man it belonged to whirled about her head leaving her feeling frustrated and angry with herself………._for god's sake his brother is in hospital, possibly fighting for his life and all you can think about is where you might have been right now and what you might have been doing………_

Ellie turned the shower to cold in a vain attempt to stop those thoughts but all it did was put her in a worse mood. Getting out of the shower and wandering into the bedroom she spotted her running shoes and smiled……….._there, you see, you can get some exercise. Hopefully if you push yourself hard enough you'll stop thinking about……………_

Ellie firmly closed the door on those thoughts, pulled on her running kit and shoes and headed out into the early morning.

The hotel was located on the edge of Rockerfeller Park; Ellie paused, then nostalgia got the better of her and she decided that she would head for the Brooklyn Bridge.

She headed down Vesey Street, past Ground Zero then up Park Row and onto the bridge. Even this early in the morning the usual collection of people were evident; tourists with their cameras taking photos of the Manhattan skyline, the Statue of Liberty and the bridge itself; cyclists riding at breakneck speed along the cycle lane and locals out for a walk, enjoying the relative peace of the morning.

She ran swiftly only pausing as she reached the Brooklyn side not really wanting to run much further in that direction. She turned and ran back over the bridge, turned toward the financial district and headed south to Battery Park. The park was already busy with tourists waiting to catch the ferry to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Vendors selling hot dogs, pretzels and hot and cold drinks were scattered through the park along with others doing a fast trade selling t shirts, caps and other memorabilia.

An ice cream vendor caught her eye and the memory of a little girl, waiting to catch the ferry to Liberty Island, clutching her grandfather's hand whilst she devoured an ice cream suddenly crashed into her mind leaving her feeling winded. She dropped onto a bench staring out over the water, remembering how excited she had been when they had reached the top of the statue and how her grandfather had pointed out all of the landmarks they could see. It had been a good day……..until the end; until he had said goodbye. She remembered crying as she watched him walk back to his car; she remembered the tears in his eyes as well, and his promise

'_We'll keep trying Ellie, I promise we will, but unless the judge say's that you can live with us you'll have to stay here. We'll call in a couple of days and we'll plan our next day out…..anywhere you want to go, tell me where when I call.'_

She shivered despite the warmth of the sun and set off running again, out of the park and back to the hotel, trying to run from the memories.

She arrived back in her hotel room, had another shower and pulled on a pair of jeans and a t shirt. She knew she needed something to do to take her mind off painful memories; she remembered the report that she still had to write………….

She arrived on the 12th floor after walking to the office from the hotel. There were people about, but it was relatively quiet as she headed for the bullpen and then stopped dead half way across the floor; Danny was sitting at his desk, staring sightlessly at his computer screen, his face white and drawn. As she watched she saw an emotion flicker across his face as he picked up his cell phone and made a call

The ringing of her cell phone cut through the quiet of the office; looking at the caller display she saw it was Danny. She looked up and could see the ringing had disturbed him...he was staring at her seemingly shocked that she was only a few feet away.

He cut the call off and stood up, a frown on his face 'What are you doing here?'

Despite the frown he looked and sounded pleased to see her. She waved her hand at her desk; 'I needed something to do so I thought I'd finish that report off'

He nodded, still staring at her. She had an overwhelming desire to close the distance between them and give him a hug…….he looked as if he needed some sort of comfort. Despite his obvious pleasure at seeing her his eyes were haunted

She closed the distance between them and hesitantly reached out and touched his arm; 'Is your brother OK?'

He stared at where her hand rested on his arm and then raised his head so he was looking at her; 'He's in a coma, and they don't know when he will wake up'

She watched as he seemed to be waging an internal struggle

'Is that what you were phoning to tell me?' she had a feeling that it wasn't and certainly that this wasn't what was giving him such a problem

'Yes…no' he bit his lip and looked at her again before he rushed on..' you said you wanted to help….'

Ellie understood now; he hated to ask for help and she could understand that, so did she. She had always had to manage on her own so asking someone to help her was something she found difficult. Looking at the expression on Danny's face it was obvious that it was something he found difficult too...

'I do want to help, what do you need me to do?'

He hesitated again then, reluctantly and not quite meeting her eye, 'my brother…….Rafi………he's in Rikers at the moment……drug charges' he stopped

Ellie started to understand his reluctance now; 'OK' he met her eye and she could see that he was waiting to see her reaction; she hesitated then impulsively decided to reach out 'my mother spent time in jail on drug charges Danny'

He looked at her and she could see the surprise on his face; she guessed that it was more to do with the fact that she had told him about her mother than _what_ she had told him. He nodded and a wry smile crossed his face

'Guess we both have screw ups for relatives then'

Ellie laughed; 'you have NO idea'

For a moment this seemed to distract him from his own troubles and he looked at her curiously; 'sounds like there's a story there'

She smiled; 'hmm, well sometime we can swap stories………..'

He smiled and this time it reached his eyes; 'well I seem to remember an offer to play 'I'll show you mine if you show me yours'………….'

Ellie smiled but reluctantly bought the conversation back to the matter in hand; 'well you can start by telling me why you are here and what it is that I can do to help you'

She watched the smile fade from his face and he nodded; 'Rafi was stabbed by a Paul Hardin, aka 'The Knifeman'. When he was questioned he said '_all Alvarez had to do was sort out that Fed brother of his and none of this would have been necessary_''

Ellie stared at him confused; 'erm,...who's Alvarez?'

She saw Danny shift uncomfortably as he explained 'Alvarez is the name I was born with; I changed it when I was 18'; he was watching her closely waiting to see her reaction

Ellie nodded, finding that for whatever reason this didn;t surprise her much; 'OK, so who is Paul Hardin?'

She saw him look thoughtfully at her for a moment then he indicated toward his computer screen; 'I called up his details; he's a pretty unpleasant character but I can't see a link between him and me'

'And NYPD are convinced that the reason Rafi was attacked was because of you?'

Danny ran his hand through his hair, a worried look on his face; 'I've spoken to the Detective in charge of the case; he's spoken to the prison authorities and they say that Rafi was keeping his nose clean, no drugs, no gangs, no nothing and that there is absolutely no reason for the attack'

'It wasn't a…….a random attack?'

Danny shook his head; 'No, Detective Fordham told me that this was a very carefully planned attack and that it's pure luck that Rafi wasn't killed'

Ellie stared at him thinking through everything he had told her so far; 'OK, so you can't find a connection between you and Hardin but what about his known associates; maybe one of them ordered the hit?'

Danny indicated toward his computer; 'I'd got as far as pulling up a list of known associates but it's a long list…………….' he hesitated looking at her to see her reaction

'Come on then, lets take half each' Ellie held her hand out and was rewarded with a smile as he held out several sheets of paper

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Danny woke up aware that something was different……………

He looked at the bedside clock; it showed the time as 7:24am and he could see the daylight filtering through the curtains.

He lay still, hearing the familiar sounds of the apartment block coming to life and the traffic on the street below but there was another sound………………

He turned slowly; Ellie was lying on her front, her face turned toward him breathing softly as she slept. Danny lay watching her as the events of the last 36 hours ran through his mind and grinned wryly…….._well Taylor, you got her into bed…..just not quite how you intened_

He frowned trying to remember the exact sequence of events last night……….they had spent a long time in the office, eventually however the lack of sleep had caught up with him and he remembered Ellie driving him home. She had bought some take out and they had eaten and then he remembered her insisting that he get some sleep while she carried on working through the information they had on Paul Hardin, trying to find the reason for Rafi's attack.

He watched as she started to stir and wondered what time she had come to bed………..he was aware of strange, warm sort of feeling inside him when he realised she had chosen to sleep in the bed with him and not on the couch

Her eyes opened and she stared at him, confusion showing on her face for a moment before she smiled at him……………….

He reached toward her and gently moved some stray hair; he felt her place her hand on his to keep it on her face. He leant forward and kissed her, feeling her lips part as she responded. He moved so that he was above her, increasing the pressure of the kiss and feeling her arms slide around his neck as he felt a surge of desire shoot through him…………….

The ringing of his cell phone interrupted them and Danny cursed and heard Ellie groan. He snatched the phone from the nightstand

'Taylor'

'Danny its Jack; I need you in the office as soon as possible…….' he heard Jack hesitate before he continued, 'Danny, I'm sorry, I've just had a call to tell me that it looks like Nicky has been abducted'


	9. Chapter 9

**Monday morning 6:30am – John F Kennedy Airport**

'Thanks for meeting me' Jack tried to stifle a yawn, which became a grin as Harold Ford laughed at him

'It's not a problem, sorry it had to be so early but I can't miss this flight or Deborah will kill me'

Jack stared affectionately at his old SAC 'you know I find it hard to believe you've actually retired and now you're off on your round the world trip'

Harold Ford grimaced; 'I'll tell you something; if I'd still been out in the field I would have found it a lot harder to retire, but leaving Washington and all the bureaucracy behind is nowhere near as hard as you'd think!' he smiled at Jack as he continued, 'anyway, sorry I couldn't get this to you sooner but it took me a couple of days to get the information you asked for'

'Look I'm just grateful for your help with this……I mean I don't like having to do this but……' Jack suspected that he looked as uncomfortable as he felt.

Harold was sympathetic; 'it can be tough running a team, I know I had to do a few things I hated'

'I remember' Jack started to laugh, 'I model myself on you…' he laughed harder as he saw the face Harold pulled, 'you were my first SAC…..I learned a hell of lot from you'

'Hmm, well, when you've finished kissing my butt shall I tell you what I've found out?'

Jack sighed, feeling a more sober mood coming over him, as he thought about why he was meeting his old SAC at the airport at 6:30am on a Monday morning; 'yeah, go on then'

Harold moved his coffee cup out of the way, opened a folder and looked at Jack; 'I had to call in a lot of favours for this one' as he saw the confusion on Jacks face he explained, 'the more I looked, the more questions I found that needed answering'

Jack sat forward, looking intently at Harold; 'OK, you've got my full attention………so is she having an affair with Victor?'

Harold raised an eyebrow but couldn't stop the corners of his mouth turning upwards; 'You always did want to jump to the last page of the book; now you've been told that Ellie Shaughnessy is having an affair with Victor, and that because of this relationship she has been able to avoid an OPR investigation into her conduct on the Bellamy case and an official censure after making inappropriate comments to the Deputy Director; is that correct?' he looked quickly at Jack.

Jack nodded, trying not to show the impatience he was feeling as Harold silently pushed a report across the table to him. He picked it up and scanned it quickly then, as he realised what it was, he re-read the summary. When he was sure he understood what he had just read he placed the report back on the table and stared in disbelief at Harold

'Why the hell wasn't this in the file I got?' Jack could feel an anger growing inside of him and he picked the report up again and waved it as he continued, 'it puts a completely different light on the whole affair……..'

'You see what I mean about more questions? There was never any question of an OPR investigation in the Bellamy case; the investigation by her Head of Station not only completely exonerated Agent Shaughnessy, it recommended that she receive a commendation for bravery. It was the agent from Washington who was investigated and censured'

Jack shook his head in disbelief and stared at Harold, 'OK, well that explains why she wasn't subject to an OPR review………'

'As far as her run in with Victor was concerned, I called him…..'

Jack cut across him; 'tell me you didn't ask him if he was having an affair with her?' he could hear his voice fracture slightly in disbelief

Harold shrugged his shoulders; 'well I did' he grinned at the look on Jacks face, 'do you want to know what he said?'

Jack realised that his mouth was hanging open and closed it, still staring at Harold

'This is your idea of a joke, isn't it………….?'

Ignoring Jack's last question, Harold explained; 'I told him I'd heard rumours that seemed to have originated in the Miami office that he was having an inappropriate relationship with a much younger female agent who was based in that office'

'And………..?' despite his horror Jack couldn't pretend he wasn't desperate to know what Victor had said

Harold grinned; 'well, he was obviously taken aback but guessed straight away that it must be Ellie. He blamed himself for the rumours and told me that he hadn't handled things well at all. I asked him if he was having an affair with her and from his response I am absolutely certain that he isn't'

'Why, what is it that he said that convinced you that he isn't having an affair with her?'

Harold regarded him steadily; 'Jack, I've known Victor over 20 years and I am absolutely positive that he isn't having an affair with her. When I asked him about their relationship he said that her mother was a 'connection' of the family and that after she had died last Christmas he had been named as the executor of her will. He said that he and Ellie don't get on and his involvement in her life has, as he described it, 'bought some ancient history to the surface that is painful for both of them'', he paused for a moment and then with a smile, 'he described her as a 'hell cat' which for Victor is pretty strong'

Jack stared at his coffee cup thinking about what he had just heard. It still felt like there was some information missing but he had to admit, the explanation he was hearing now seemed to fit the woman he was starting to know, and starting to like, a lot better than the idea of her having an affair with Victor Fitzgerald.

He looked up at Harold; 'OK, well I have to admit it seems a more plausible explanation than her having an affair with him and would possibly explain why she got away with arguing with him before she transferred'

'I asked him about that too' Harold was struggling not to laugh, 'I've never seen Victor so shame faced. He admitted, after I pushed him hard, that prior to her blowing up at him he had said a few things to her that he shouldn't have said and he admitted that she had been pretty restrained all things considered.'

Jack nodded thoughtfully; 'which ties in with what he told you about the family connection and them not getting on' a thought occurred to him and he frowned, 'but doesn't explain why she told Victor about Jason Young's indiscretion and lost him his promotion chance

Harold glanced toward the departures screen and stood up; 'Jason Young hasn't lost his promotion chance; he separated from his wife last year and rather than give him a post in Boston and separate him from his children we decided to hold him in Miami. Gail Scully, the SAC of the Domestic Terrorism Team in the Miami office is due to retire in a few months time and we plan on giving him her team' he picked up his case as he continued, 'I have to admit I don't understand why Ellie is being blamed for that; for a start Victor had nothing to do with the decision, that was my area, and now I've retired Helen Jenkins will be taking up the reins, and anyway, Jason is well aware that he is getting the team before the end of the year and is happy with the decision'

Jack stood up and shook Harold's hand; 'I can't thank you enough for this'

'I think you still have a lot of unanswered questions. It looks to me as if someone is deliberately stirring up trouble for Ellie or Victor or both of them.' Harold looked seriously at Jack, 'you need to stop this before the rumours go any further because if they get out into the general domain, even if they are completely untrue, his career is over and hers is in ruins too'

Jack nodded; 'Yes, I think the time has come for me to put my cards on the table with Ellie and see if she'll open up to me' he pursed his lips thoughtfully, 'I get the impression she doesn't trust very easily so I'm not underestimating how difficult _that_ will be'

'Well, if Ellie won't open up then I think Victor could tell you more. I didn't have time to push any harder but I suspect that if you tell him what you have learned things might start to pop'

Jack laughed hollowly, 'I can't wait to have _that_ conversation with him; lets hope I can convince Ellie that she can trust me' he grinned at Harold as he saw him glance again at the departure board, 'well, have a fantastic time on your travels and give my love to Deborah. Lets get together when you get back'

The two men shook hands and Jack watched as Harold hurried toward the departure gate then he turned and headed back to his car, the information he had just learned churning over and over in his mind as he realised that he still didn't have answers to some questions; like why had Victor tried to move Ellie to San Francisco and why did Martin think he had met her before.

As he reached the car he decided that he would speak to Ellie as soon as she got into the office; they didn't have an active case and he really didn't want this dragging on much longer. Decision made he opened the car door and slide behind the steering wheel as his cell phone rang;

'Malone'

He listened in growing horror to the message being relayed to him. At the calls conclusion he sat staring sightlessly across the parking lot for a moment before dialling a number

'Danny, its Jack………………..'

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Monday morning 7:30am – Martin's apartment**

The alarm was beeping furiously as Martin tried to find it to turn it off……..

'What the hell……' he slid his hand over the bedside table but couldn't find the clock, in fact he couldn't find anything on the table…………………

He felt an arm slide around his waist as Sam pressed herself against his back, nipping him gently on his shoulder

'I think the contents of the table were a casualty of last night……..'

Martin grinned as he dropped his hand to the floor and, finding the light, switched it on and spotted the clock. He turned the alarm off and turned onto his back, pulling Sam on top of him

'Hmm, remind me, what happened last night?'

Sam was giggling, and he moved swiftly, flipping her onto her back, pulling her hands above her head and kissing her passionately

She wriggled provocatively and Martin felt his body respond as he broke the kiss and murmured; 'good god woman, you're insatiable'

'Lucky you' she breathed as she arched her back; Martin didn't disagree and began trailing kisses down her neck, over her shoulder and then took one rosy nipple into his mouth and heard her moan.

The sound of a ringing cell phone could be heard…………..

Martin heard Sam's moan become a groan and then a giggle as she picked her head up and saw the frustration in his eyes; 'deja vue?'

Martin started to laugh as well as he started to scrabble around on the floor trying to find his cell phone; he located it and turning away from Sam in an attempt to control his laughter,

'Fitzgerald'

'Martin, its Jack, I need you in the office asap; it looks as if Danny's nephew has been abducted'

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Monday morning 8:30am – FBI Offices**

Ellie arrived into the office at a run, guessing she would be the last to arrive.

After receiving Jack's call she had thought, for a moment anyway, that Danny was going to fall apart but he hadn't, although she could tell he was badly shaken.

She hadn't bothered offering him platitudes or empty assurances that everything would be OK, certain that he wouldn't appreciate them; instead she had all but forced him into the shower and then into his suit, taken the keys to his car and driven him to the office where she had dropped him off before she headed back to her hotel for a quick shower and change of clothes before racing back to the office. It was one of the times when she was grateful that Bureau cars were fitted with emergency lights and a siren and she had felt no qualms in making full use of them……….

She arrived to see Sam and Martin already sat at the conference table, heads close together, serious looks on their faces. They looked up as she arrived but before any of them could say anything Jack and Danny arrived at the table. The expression on Jack's face was closed, as if something was irritating him and Danny looked tight faced and angry, it was obvious to all that they had been arguing over something before arriving at the table.

Danny dropped into the chair next to her, leaving Jack to take the chair at the head of the table. Ellie felt him pull his seat closer to her, increasing the distance between him and Jack…………...

'To bring you up to speed' Jack turned slightly so that his back was toward Danny and Ellie, and looking pointedly at Martin and Sam as he continued, 'Rafi was attacked on _Saturday_ and is in a coma in St Luke's. It would appear that the motive for the attack somehow ties into him have a Federal agent for a brother'

Ellie saw Martin and Sam both look in horror at Danny. She looked at Jack's face and guessed that Danny must have told him about their work yesterday trying to establish a motive for the attack and who could be behind it, and for whatever reason Jack was angry…………angry that they hadn't told him what was going on maybe?

Jack turned and glared at her; 'Maybe Agent Shaughnessy will be kind enough to let us know what she found out?'

Ellie felt an anger start to boil up inside of her as she fought back the words that threatened to spill out………………………she lost the fight and opened her mouth to tell Jack what a pompous idiot she thought he was being but before she could get the words out she felt a hand on her thigh as Danny leaned forward

'I told you; _Ellie_ wanted to let you know so don't have a go at her, it was me that said we should wait until today' his voice was clipped and he was obviously fighting for control as well, although Ellie had to admit he had done better than she would have.

Jack scowled; 'you should have informed me………….'

'Yes, you've made it very clear that you think I should have told you but why you think that is beyond me. I mean what bloody difference do you think telling you yesterday would have made? You're surely not going to tell me that you would have guessed that Nicky would have been taken?'

Danny was on his feet now, the frustration and anger he was feeling was obvious and he couldn't keep his voice down. Heads in other teams were beginning to turn; Ellie stood up and took hold of his arms, turning him so that his back was to Jack and he was facing her;

'Danny, calm down, this isn't going to help find Nicky' she stared at him until she saw his eyes focus again and felt some of the tension ease from his body. She looked past him at Jack but before she could say anything she heard a voice she didn't recognise,

'I heard about Nicky, I thought maybe I could help'

Ellie stared past Jack to see a woman she didn't know, with her left arm in a sling, walk up to the conference table, a calm expression on her face;

'Viv' Sam shot to her feet and hurried to embrace the other woman. Martin stood too and also gave her a quick hug.

'Danny'; Viv spoke gently and Ellie felt the last of the tension ease from him as he turned to face her and let her put her good arm around him in a warm embrace.

'Should you be here?' Ellie heard the concern in Jacks voice, and saw it echoed in the expressions on Sam and Martin's faces

Ellie choked back a laugh at the disgusted look Viv shot them all. Without bothering to reply Viv turned and looked at her; Ellie guessed she must have seen the amusement on her face because Viv smiled at her conspiratorially as she held out her hand

'You must be Ellie'

Ellie took the offered hand and shook it, liking her immediately; she waved her free hand toward Viv's desk

'I'm afraid I've hijacked your desk…………'

Viv just laughed; 'you're welcome to it'; then she turned to Jack; 'so are you going to brief us?'

Martin pulled out the chair at the opposite end of the table to Jack and settled Viv in it as they all took their seats again, the tension diffused.

Jack hesitated then turned to Ellie; 'maybe you could let us know what you found out yesterday?' his voice was calmer and there was almost an apologetic look in his eye

Ellie glanced at Danny, but he shook his head; 'you do it, you worked on this longer than me'

Ellie stood up and placed a photo of Paul Hardin on the whiteboard; 'This is the man who attacked Rafi; Paul Hardin, aka 'The Knifeman'. He was questioned after the attack, however the only thing they could get out of him was '_all Alvarez had to do was sort out that Fed brother of his and none of this would have been necessary_''

She looked at the group sat around the table; 'Danny and I have looked through all of his known associates to see if there is any connection to Danny or Rafi and there isn't'

She saw Martin and Sam exchange glances as Jack propped his elbows on the table and ran his hands through his hair in frustration as he asked 'Nothing at all?'

'No. Some of his known associates are more dangerous than others so I prioritised them and looked at _their_ known associates to see if anything popped there, but still got absolutely nothing' Ellie stared at them all, sensing their frustration matched her own

'What is Hardin in jail for?' Viv lent forward slightly as she directed the question to Ellie

He's doing 20 years for second degree murder, attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon but he goes on trial in two weeks time for the murder of a cop in Queens. The evidence is apparently very strong and the feeling is that a conviction is almost a slam dunk; the ADA handling the case told me that he is going to go for the death penalty and expects to get it.'

Ellie saw Danny look at her in surprise; 'when did you speak to the ADA in Queens?'

'This morning after I dropped you here' she saw the look between Sam and Martin and the expression on Jack's face and groaned inside _nice one Ellie, you'll spend the rest of the day explaining how you came to spend the night with Danny and that no, nothing happened…………unfortunately, _pushing this to one side for now she continued, 'I spoke to Detective Fordham yesterday after you fell asleep; he gave me the name of the ADA and it turns out I know him, so I called and he gave me the information'

Viv had a thoughtful look on her face; 'One of the many downsides to having time off from work is that you end up watching a ridiculous amount of television. I caught a film the other day, I can't remember the name, but the basic plot was two people meet up, discover they both want someone dead and then swap murders so that there is no direct link between the murderer and the victim' she paused and looked at Danny; 'maybe you can't find a connection because there isn't one'

Danny stared at Viv and then at Ellie, the frustration he was feeling clearly evident on his face; 'Great, if that's the case then how are we supposed to work out why this has happened? And what about Nicky?'

Jack stood up as Ellie sat down 'We have to assume these events are linked. NYPD had a detail looking after Sylvia, Nicky and Lucia. Nicky left for school just after 7am with a police escort. The control room tried to contact his escort 10 minutes later and got no reply. After another 5 minutes they raised the alarm and have begun a search but so far there has been no sight of Nicky or of the officer escorting him. NYPD have searched the route and an appeal has been made but so far nothing'

Silence fell for a moment; Ellie could see Danny's jaw was rigid and his hands, which were under the table, were clenched into fists. Without realising what she was doing she slid a hand under the table and gripped the hand closest to her almost wincing as she felt him grip her hand tightly in return

'OK, well sitting around isn't going to get us anywhere so Martin, you and I are going to see Paul Hardin and see if we can get something more out of him' Jack glanced at Danny as he saw his reaction to this, 'Danny, I need you to go and see Sylvia and see if there is anything more she can think of that will help us, and take Viv with you' he turned to look at Sam and then Ellie; 'I need the two of you to keep working through the list of names and seeing what comes out, and keeping in touch with the NYPD in case we get any more news about the search for Nicky'

Jack dropped a hand onto Danny's shoulder as he finished giving out the assignments and then turned and headed back to his office; Martin stood up and looked at Danny, a serious expression on his face

'We'll get something more out of him, I promise'

Ellie felt Danny's hand tighten in hers again as he looked up at Martin and nodded, seemingly unable to speak.

Viv pushed her chair back; 'We had better get going' her voice was calm as she spoke to Danny. Ellie felt him squeeze her hand again before he dropped it and stood up

'I'll be back in a minute'; he headed out of the office in the direction of the bathroom leaving Ellie, Viv and Sam at the conference table

Viv sighed; 'I can't believe that Danny has to go through this again'

'Again?' Ellie stared at Viv, horrified at the thought that he had been through something like this before

'Rafi went missing a couple of years back when he got involved with a drug deal; Danny found him…………they have a difficult relationship…….' Viv's voice trailed away, her eyes looking past Ellie.

Ellie turned and saw Danny re-entering the bullpen. He stopped as he saw her turn to look at him and jerked his head slightly to indicate the corridor. Ellie didn't bother to look to see what Viv and Sam thought about this; instead she headed for the corridor.

Danny was stood staring at the floor but he looked up as she approached. He opened his mouth to say something but closed it again as a couple of agents from another team walked past, throwing him looks which seemed to be a mix of curiosity and sympathy. She saw him scowl and then he caught hold of her arm and pulled her into the empty tech room and closed the door

For a moment he stood staring at her then, hesitantly; 'I wanted to say thanks for all your help yesterday, you know, and sorry…….. about the other night…………..' he stopped

Ellie realised she was into un-chartered waters; strange emotions swirled through her as she looked at the pain in his eyes and realised that she desperately wanted to be able to take that pain away. Instinct took over and she stepped forward, reaching out for him

She felt his arms tighten around her as she held him. They stood wrapped in each others arms, saying nothing……………..

'Where's Danny?'

Ellie could hear the urgency in Jack's voice. She stepped aside to let Danny get to the door but he stopped her, pulling her to him and kissing her briefly on the lips before stepping back and opening the door

They headed back into the bullpen to see Jack looking agitated; he saw Danny and headed over to him

'We've had a call; someone claiming to have taken Nicky. They said that Rafi would know what they wanted and that he has 24 hours to 'sort it out''

Danny was staring at Jack, confusion evident on his face; 'What the hell does that mean?'

Jack shook his head; 'I have no idea and we only have 24 hours to figure it out………….'


	10. Chapter 10

**St Luke's Hospital, Manhattan – 11:05pm Monday**

Danny felt as if he was going stir crazy……………how long had he been at the hospital now? He checked the clock on the wall of Rafi's room and worked out it was approaching 14 hours………………14 hours into the 24 hours the kidnapper had given them, and they were no closer to understanding what this was all about, no closer to finding Nicky…..

He paced around the room, pausing now and then to look at Rafi, willing him to wake up and be able to tell them something that would help ……….he closed his mind to the thought that even if Rafi did wake up now he probably wouldn't be able to help them much……….the doctor had warned that it could take days before someone coming out of a coma could communicate effectively. Danny didn't want to think about that…………..

He was alone in the room; Sylvia had finally been persuaded to go with Viv and get herself something to eat and to phone her brother and his wife who were at Sylvia's apartment looking after two year old Lucia. Danny was impressed by how well Sylvia was holding up through all of this but he knew that the closer they got to the deadline the harder it was going to get for her….

Viv had stayed; Danny had been concerned about whether she was well enough to work but as she had pointed out, she was in the best place if it turned out she wasn't up to it. He was glad she had stayed; he found her presence comforting.

He had spoken to the rest of the team frequently through the day, and had lost count of the number of times he had been told off by the nurses for using his cell phone. Jack and Martin hadn't managed to get anything more out of Paul Hardin and Danny remembered the intense frustration in Jacks voice when he had called to tell him. He and Martin were now back in the office working with Sam and Ellie chasing down every lead or half lead they could find.

The cop and Nicky had literally vanished into thin air. The car had been found with blood on the driver's seat and the forensics report had confirmed that it was that of the cop, Pete West. Martin had seen the car and the amount of blood that they had found; he had described it to Danny and Danny knew that if West had lost that much blood, chances were he was now dead and his body dumped somewhere. The only good thing to come from the forensics report was that none of the blood found in the car was a match to Nicky……..Danny was praying that was a good sign.

All of the team had called him but he had spoken most often to Ellie who seemed to have taken on the responsibility of updating him; she hadn't tried to make things sound better than they were which he was grateful for. He didn't understand, and at the moment wasn't inclined to try to, but the sound of her voice on the phone seemed to sooth his frayed nerves; and even though she didn't ask how he was doing or offer empty reassurances, he knew she was concerned, that she cared, and that helped somehow.

In their last conversation Ellie she had told him they were now going back through any cases where he had been responsible for an arrest or had shot someone, trying to see if they could find anything that would help………………….she had tried to sound positive but he knew as well as she did that finding a needle in a haystack would look easy compared to the task they had in front of them.

He felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket. Taking a quick look to make sure none of the nursing staff were looking, and deliberately not looking at the notice telling him that cell phones should be turned off, he answered it, keeping his voice low

'Taylor'

'Special Agent Daniel Alavarez?……..oh but of course, you changed your name to _Taylor_ didn't you. Has that helped you forget Daniel?'

The sneering tone of the voice, and hearing himself called by his old name, left Danny speechless; his heart started to pound………..

'What, nothing to say? Don't you want to find your nephew?' the voice sounded amused now

Danny swallowed and fought to keep his voice calm; 'Yes, I want to find Nicky, where is he?'

'Oh I'm sure you do want to find him; you want to save him don't you Daniel………you always did want to _save_ people………..but you're not very good at it are you? You couldn't save your parents could you, and you couldn't save poor Rafi either………..I mean he's back in jail _again_ isn't he?'

Danny was finding it hard to breathe as he fought hard to stay calm, to remember that he had to find Nicky…………

'What about Nicky?' he heard the slight catch in his voice as he spoke; he looked around, desperately searching for someone who could call the office so that they could trace the call but for the first time today there was no-one in sight………..

More laughter; Danny could feel his initial shock slowly being replaced by a growing feeling of anger

'You want to save Nicky? Well…………I guess I can understand that, I mean there has got to be one member of your family that you can save hasn't there? If you _do_ want to save Nicky then you need to come to the old Sommerford Brothers Warehouse in the Bronx……..you know the one don't you Daniel?'

Danny felt another shock run through him……..he knew the warehouse very well……….it was where he had first had to shoot and kill a suspect after joining the FBI………….but Danny couldn't understand what that had to do with Nicky………….

'I know it' he struggled to keep his voice calm

'Come alone……………I will let you save Nicky, but not if you bring anyone else with you……….and Daniel, I know you are at the hospital and I know how long it takes to get here so don't be late……….Nicky wouldn't like it at all'

The phone went dead; Danny stood for a moment trying to take in what had just happened………

He left the room at a run heading for his car, not bothering to try and find Viv. As soon as he was in the car and on his way he picked up his phone and rang Jack

'Damn it'; Jack's line was engaged

He dialled another number

'_Shaughnessy_'

'Ellie it's me, I need your help'

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**FBI Offices – 11:15pm Monday night**

Jack placed the receiver back down, frustrated at yet another dead end. He looked up quickly as he heard the sound of running feet; his door crashed open as Ellie erupted into his office;

'Danny's heard from the kidnapper; he's on his way to the Bronx to meet him'

'HE'S WHAT?' Jack shot to his feet grabbing his jacket even as Ellie backed out of the door and started heading for the elevator

Jack hurried to catch her up, concern for Danny's safety making him speak harshly; 'are you going to tell me what the fuck is going on here?'

She had pressed the button to call the elevator and was staring impatiently at the numbers above the door that showed it was descending toward them; she didn't seem to be bothered at the anger in his voice and didn't look at him as she replied;

'I don't know that much myself. He rang, said he was on his way to the Bronx to meet the kidnapper in the Sommerford Brothers Warehouse. The kidnapper has told him Nicky will be killed if he doesn't come alone. I left him talking to Martin and came and got you; Martin will call with more information once he's got some'

The elevator arrived and both got in; Jack thought about what she said and then turned to look at her. She wasn't looking at him; she was staring at the door as if willing the elevator to have reached the basement and for the doors to open

'I'm amazed you didn't just head over there by yourself' his voice was dry, sarcastic and this time she did look at him, her expression cool, almost detached. She didn't reply, instead it seemed as if she was thinking about what he had just said.

The door opened and they headed to Jacks car at a run. Jack put the flashing lights and siren on as he exited the parking lot and headed for the expressway

'I nearly did'

Jack stared at her for a moment as she continued;

'I nearly did go by myself but that would have been stupid, right?' she was staring out of the front windscreen and he could see the tension in her face and suddenly he realised, and cursed himself for not seeing sooner ………….

'Is there something going on between you and Danny?' The words left his mouth before he could stop them……

She turned to look at him; her face was expressionless and her eyes in shadow as she gave a short hollow sounding laugh; 'Something going on?' she paused, 'I think so………..or there will be if we can find somewhere without any bloody phones'

Jack wondered briefly what on earth phones had to do with anything but left that for now, there was a more immediate issue he needed to get an answer on…………….

'I won't let my feelings cloud my judgement' she had anticipated his question; her voice was flat and emotionless but Jack wasn't fooled; the blank mask was in place again, the one he suspected that she used to hide the emotions she didn't want people to see. Before he could reply her cell phone rang

She checked the display before she answered; 'Martin, what have you got?'

She listened intently to Martin, jotting down notes in her note book, seemingly unbothered by the speed at which they were travelling.

The call took a few minutes and she had a couple of sides of notes when she hung up

'What?'

Jack could see from the look on her face that she was shocked by something that Martin had told her

'This warehouse………did you know that it was where Danny's first kill shoot was?'

Jack cursed; 'I hadn't remembered'

'Martin has traced the cell phone number that called Danny; it's registered to a Richard Griffiths………..'

'That's the name of the man Danny shot' Jack knew he sounded as stunned as he felt.

'Martin and Sam did some digging; Richard Griffiths had a younger half brother, Carl Southwell; they looked at him and found that he changed his name 6 years ago……….to Peter West'

'That's the cop that vanished with Nicky' Jack was horrified and then confusion set in; 'but the forensics report said he must have lost at least three pints of blood………….so he wouldn't be capable of doing anything…………'

'Martin said he spoke to forensics again; they have done some more analysis on the blood and they think it was deliberately placed in the car, apparently the pattern is inconsistent with someone having been stabbed, but is consistent with someone spilling blood or pouring blood.'

'How the hell…………?'

Ellie continued before Jack could get the question out; 'Martin and Sam have found that West had three pints of blood drawn over the last few weeks for his own purposes. It seems he told everyone that he was considering volunteering to go to Africa as an aid worker and he had been advised that he should take some of his own blood with him in case of a medical emergency because he has a rare blood type'

Jack shook his head in disbelief; 'So West has taken Nicky to get Danny to go to the warehouse where his brother was shot and killed' he paused for a moment, 'didn't we run a background check on West when we realised he was missing with Nicky?'

'Yes, but we also knew that a huge amount of his blood was all over the car and that he was probably dead which pushed him down our suspects list somewhat' Ellie sounded angry but Jack suspected that it was more with the situation than anything else

'Well he's a cop; he knows how it works. He would know that us finding his blood everywhere would mean that we wouldn't go much further down that route, certainly not before he was ready to make his move' Jack thought for a moment, 'We would have got to Richard Griffiths though?'

'Oh yeah, he was on the list but because we followed protocol and started with the most recent cases first we hadn't got to him yet'

'There's a reason it's protocol; you know as well as I do that it was more likely that a recent case would have prompted this sort of revenge attack, not something that happened years ago' Jack spoke firmly. He didn't have time for her to start blaming herself for something that was no-ones fault.

She was silent for a second then she continued; 'We still can't find any connection between West and Hardin though; we checked Hardin's arrest records, West has never arrested him, in fact he's never been arrested anywhere near the precinct that West is based from so that part is still a mystery'

'Well, I doubt that is very important in the scheme of things. At least we know why West is after Danny' Jack paused; 'has Martin spoken to Danny about this?'

'Yes, before he called us; he said Danny was just arriving at the warehouse……..Martin said he tried to get him to wait but Danny told him that he wasn't going to risk anything happening to Nicky…………' Ellie's cell phone rang again

'Hi Sam'

She listened to what Sam had to say then with a brief word of thanks she hung up

'They broke into West's locker; they found a letter………Sam said it's obvious from what he has written that he intends to kill Danny and then kill himself' there was the faintest hint of a waver in her voice as she continued, 'Sam said that they can't reach Danny on his cell phone and that the GPS signal has been lost………they think its been turned off'

Jack thought furiously; if West intended to kill himself that took a lot of their bargaining position away from them…….and what about Nicky? Hopefully he was only using the boy to lure Danny there and then let him go but it complicated things, made it a lot more dangerous to just go in guns blazing and he suspected that West knew that.

His radio crackled into life with a message to tell him that the local police had sealed off a one mile perimeter around the warehouse and all sirens and police lights had been killed.

'He knows we'll come; he doesn't for a moment think that Danny wouldn't tell us what's happening……….' She sounded thoughtful, then from the corner of his eye he could see her turn to face him,' he wants us there…….he wants us to see him kill Danny'

Jack glanced at her; her face looked white and her eyes looked huge as she realised what they were up against.

'Yes'

'We don't have a negotiating position do we?'

'Not one that springs to mind' Jack had turned the lights and the siren off as they passed through the 1 mile cordon and onto the huge estate full of warehouses

He tried to stay calm, focused on the facts and not think that it was Danny who was in danger………….he pulled up next to Danny's car in front of the warehouse and killed the engine as an idea slowly formed in his mind

He turned to face her; 'Look, there might be a way to get Danny out alive but it's very risky and breaks just about every rule in the book……..'

He saw a wry smile appear on her face; 'OK, tell me more……..'

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Sommerford Brothers Warehouse – 12:05am Tuesday morning**

Danny knew he was running out of ideas fast; in fact, as far as he could tell, the well was pretty much dry………..he couldn't think how it could get any worse than this; on his knees, hands tied behind his back at the mercy of a maniac with a gun. He calculated how long it would take Jack to get a SWAT team mobilised and to the warehouse and estimated that he needed another 20 to 30 minutes at least………….he doubted he had that long left before West killed him.

He felt West grab the back of his hair and force his head back so that he was looking up into his maniacal, glittering eyes

'How…long...does…it…take...for…your...friends...to...damn...well...get...here' he felt him emphasise each word by pulling painfully on his hair, then he let it go with a push that sent Danny falling forwards again; unable to stop himself as his hands were cuffed behind his back, he twisted so that he landed on his shoulder.

West stood over him, laughing. He crouched down, waving the gun at Danny; 'maybe they don't care, maybe they just think good riddance to bad rubbish……….I mean, you are just bad luck aren't you……you certainly were for your _parents_'

Danny could feel a coldness creeping over him, deadening his emotions which he was thankful for……….he didn't want to give this bastard the satisfaction of seeing him beg or plead for his life; he knew it wouldn't make any difference to the outcome anyway, except that West might enjoy it more. At least Nicky was out of harms way, locked in the office…….at least he wouldn't see West kill him……………

'If you believe in a god then now's the time to start praying; you'll be meeting him as soon as your friends make an appearance'; West was behind him now, his voice taunting him, laughing at him. Danny gritted his teeth determined not to break down…………

He heard a noise and saw West spin around then he heard the deafening sound of a gun going off

'My my, we are twitchy aren't we'

Danny scrabbled around, desperately trying to move so he could see the owner of the voice, not that he didn't know who it was………

She walked into the light, her gun at the high port position her face a cold mask; Danny found himself jerked up and held so that his body formed a shield between West and Ellie, West's gun digging painfully into his side.

'Who are you?' West sounded uncertain, shocked even and Danny didn't blame him, this was hardly by the book. He felt the gun gouge deeper into his ribs and bit his lip to stop himself wincing with the pain; 'Who is she' West hissed into Danny's ear

'I doubt that names are that important but for the sake of politeness I'm Ellie……………_what_ I am is more important to you'

Danny felt the gun ease very slightly from his side and sensed West's confusion as he asked; '_What_ you are?

'Hmm, well I assume there's a reason you've been waiting to kill him, otherwise you would have shot him as soon as he arrived…………………. or you could have just walked up to him in the street and shot him, but you didn't did you, you did all of……_this_' her voice was laced with contempt as she flicked her gaze around the warehouse.

Danny could feel that West's body was trembling with suppressed rage and guessed that he was trying to work out why Ellie was behaving like she was……..Danny wasn't sure what the hell was going on but he had faith that she must have a plan of some sort….mustn't she? He tried to make his brain function, tried to understand what she could gain by goading West like she was; he stared at her, willing her to make eye contact with him but she wouldn't and her face was so cold, so detached…..

West had remained silent, seemingly unable to think of a reply; Ellie's eyes seemed to mock him as a smile started to form on her face

'You want someone here to watch you kill him don't you? You could have made Nicky watch but you haven't so who is it you are waiting for?

Again, West said nothing; he was sweating profusely now, so much so Danny could smell it on him and could feel him nervously re-adjust his grip on the gun; he started to believe that maybe, just maybe, Ellie knew what she was doing…………………

'Come on…….who are you waiting for?' she sounded impatient now and Danny almost expected to see her start tapping her foot

'I want his friends to watch him die'; West finally answered, but Danny heard the faintest hint of uncertainty in his voice and could hear his slightly laboured breathing……………

'Oh I see, you think that you call and we all drop everything so that you have an audience when you shoot him? Well, you've got me and that will have to do you unless you want to wait for the rest of them to show up, complete with a SWAT team.'

Her voice sounded casual now, almost bored, and the expression on her face reminded Danny of the look his mother used to give him when she thought he was being particularly slow about something; but her knuckles…………….Danny noticed her knuckles were white from gripping the gun so tightly, and she still hadn't looked at him.

West's agitation was increasing; he was fidgeting and swapping the weight from one foot to the other but the gun remained jammed into Danny's side; Danny contemplated trying to sweep the gun aside and diving so that Ellie had a clear shot but he suspected that West was so jumpy now that the slightest move would result in him pulling the trigger………..leaving a large hole in Danny. He decided to wait and see how this played out, trusting that Ellie knew what she was doing………….into the silence that had fallen he heard a faint sound……it seemed to have come from behind him……

Before he could think about what he had heard he saw Ellie raise her eyebrows at West, an impatient look on her face; 'Well come on then, are you going to shoot him or not…………of course you realise that the moment you do you're dead, right? I mean I'll stick a bullet through your head……..actually, better make that two bullets….best to be sure about these things……..it's always a mess, well you know that of course you'll have seen a few head shot victims in your time, but highly effective………….' The tone of her voice was almost conversational, but Danny thought that she was talking in a slightly louder voice than she had been……………………then she laughed, as if slightly embarrassed

'Whoops, I forgot, your brother was shot in the head wasn't he……by Danny……….I saw the photo's, not pretty, not pretty at all……………..still I suppose that means you know what you'll look like when I've finished with you………..

A snarl escaped West but Danny sensed his growing indecision. He watched Ellie closely and was almost certain he saw her eyes briefly flicker, as if she was looking at something behind him………..then she laughed contemptuously; 'of course you could try to shoot me first couldn't you; I mean, if you get me then you can still kill Danny……..two for the price of one so to speak' she was openly taunting him now, daring him to shoot her………….he could almost feel the rage in West and felt his grip around his neck loosen slightly……………..then Danny stared in disbelief as Ellie lowered her gun and spread her arms out, a look of total contempt on her face

'Come on you snivelling little runt, let's see if you've got the guts to shoot me…….'

Danny felt the gun move away from his side as West suddenly raised his arm, aiming at Ellie…………; grabbing his chance he kicked hard and twisted, trying to throw West off balance………….he felt a hand in his back thrusting him forward and felt himself hurtling toward the floor as he heard a volley of shots, felt a sudden pain, and then everything went black……..


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

**Sommerford Brothers Warehouse – 12:25am Tuesday morning**

'Danny…….'

He heard her call him. The smell of gunpowder hung in the air even as the echoing sound of the shooting died away. He lay still for a moment, blinking his eyes rapidly in an effort to clear his vision……….then he realised that something was obscuring his sight and smelt the unmistakable smell of blood……..

He heard the sound of running feet and then Jack's voice; 'Is he OK?'; it seemed to be coming from above him. A figure appeared next to him; even with blurred vision Danny knew it was Ellie.

'I don't know………he's cut his head….' He felt his hands cut free from their ties and felt her gently roll him onto his back; he moved his hands in an effort to wipe away the blood from his eyes as he tried to sit up. He felt her arms go around him as she helped him move so that he was sitting up and leaning against one of the metal pillars.

'Danny……are you OK?' Most of the blood was out of his eyes now and he was able to focus on her face and the concern in her eyes as he nodded and then in a weak voice

'Yeah…….I………I think so……….' He put his hand up but she stopped him

'You hit your head on the floor………..you've got a nasty cut on your forehead……..' she sounded relieved…………..he heard her cell phone ring

She glanced quickly at the caller ID before flipping the phone open;

'Yeah'

She listened for a moment, then, 'OK, I'll tell him'

She listened for a moment more then, 'No, I think he's just a bit dazed….he hit the floor head first when West pushed him and he's cut his head badly…call me when you are outside'

She ended the call; Danny tried to get up but she stopped him

'Sit there, we need to get you checked over and the paramedics will be here in a minute' she sounded determined and had an equally determined look on her face

'I have to get Nicky

'It's OK; Jack has him and he's taking him out the back way so that he doesn't have to see that' she glanced over at the still shape on the floor a few feet away. Danny stared at it for a second before he realised that most of West's head was missing. He stared at her

'Jack hit him at least twice and I got him twice as well' she smiled weakly at him, 'sorry, you must have wondered what the hell was going on when I was asking him when he was going to shoot you'

Danny's head, which had been spinning since he sat up, was slowly starting to feel normal again and his memory of the last half an hour was coming back. He managed to smile at her and saw a look of relief in her eyes

'I confess I was a bit worried for a minute or two…..' he made as if to get up expecting her to stop him; instead she reached to help him. His head was swimming and he swayed for a second before he felt things start to feel more normal. Ellie's arms were around him, giving him support…..Danny suspected that he could probably have managed without her but then again, it felt so damn good to have her pressed up against him…….he convinced himself that maybe he did need her support after all…….

They started to walk toward the exit, passing the bloody remains of Pete West……….Danny could feel an anger start to burn inside of him at the thought of how Nicky would be affected by all of this, so much so he didn't realise Ellie had spoken

'Huh?' he saw her look at him worriedly for a moment as she repeated the question

'Are you up to telling me what happened before we got here?' she was looking at him closely; he guessed she was trying to decide whether she should make him sit down again and wait for the paramedics, but he was determined to get out of the warehouse…………he started to describe the what had happened

_Flashback – 11:45pm Monday night_

'_Danny, wait until Jack and Ellie get there….they won't be more than 15-20 minutes' _

_Martin was trying hard to persuade him but Danny knew he couldn't wait; the phone call he had received a couple of minutes earlier had made that very clear…..of course, thanks to Martin he now knew who the kidnapper was; Pete West, the brother of a man he had killed years before. _

_West had put Nicky on the phone and Danny felt the anger surge through him as he remembered how frightened he had sounded_

_Tío Danny, estoy asustado, ese hombre me asusta_

_Estaré ahí pronto Nicky, se valiente_

_Danny forced the memory from his mind; 'I can't wait Martin, he'll kill Nicky if I don't get there soon'_

_The warehouse loomed in front of him; 'Martin, gotta go' he snapped the phone shut and pulled up a little way from the entrance. He climbed out, checked his gun and then hesitated, looking at his handcuffs; he knew West had the upper hand because he had Nicky……Danny put the handcuffs into the glove box; if things went badly and, as he expected, he ended up at the wrong end of a gun, he was damned if he would be restrained with his own handcuffs. He headed for the side door_

_He opened the door and listened carefully……..he couldn't hear anything but knew that West was expecting him……..his heart pounded in his ears as he slowly made his way towards the main storage area_

_A click sounded next to his left ear and Danny froze, recognising the sound of a gun being cocked. He kept his hands away from his gun as he felt a gun barrel pressed against his head_

'_I came alone, like you said, now let Nicky go'_

_The barrel was pushed harder against his head and Danny had to grit his teeth not to let out a grunt of pain_

'_You're not in a position to make demands, now are you?' West snarled_

_Danny took a deep breath trying to stay calm; 'I'm not making demands but I know you don't want to hurt a twelve year old boy……….your issue is with me and I'm here now and you have the upper hand so you can let Nicky go can't you?'_

_Danny waited hardly breathing then heard a low laugh; 'You came on your own did you? And what, you expect me to believe that you haven't spoken to any of your colleagues, your _friends_ and told them what's happening, you haven't had them trace the call and have them tell you who I am and why I'm going to kill you'_

_Danny took a deep breath trying to decide what to do; should he lie or tell the truth…….instinct was telling him to tell the truth……….._

'_They know where I am and I reckon you've got about 15 minutes before re-enforcements turn up' he waited with baited breath to see if he had just made a huge mistake or not……._

_He felt a hand remove his gun from its holster and heard the sound of the clip being ejected. Then he felt West feel in his pocket, remove his cell phone and heard him crush it underfoot. Finally West started to feel around his belt and Danny guessed he was looking for the handcuffs….he felt a tiny spark of satisfaction that he had left them in the car_

'_I don't have my cuff's with me…..the lock broke and I won't pick up a new pair until tomorrow' he lied_

_The gun barrel was pushed painfully into his back; 'start walking and don't try anything funny. If I have to kill you before I'm ready then I'll kill the boy straight after. On the other hand, if you co-operate I'll let him go'_

_Danny walked in the direction he was being pushed and found himself in the main warehouse……he could see a terrified Nicky handcuffed to one of the steel support pillars and had to fight the impulse to rush to his side;_

'_Can I go to him?'_

_West appeared to hesitate then pushed Danny hard in the back with the gun; 'yes, but _slowly_'_

_Danny walked across to Nicky, fighting the desire to rush to his side; He crouched down next to him, putting his arms around the frightened boy and murmuring to him_

_Estarás bien, él no va a hacerte daño. Se valiente todo acabará pronto_

_Nicky was sobbing now as he pressed his body into Danny's embrace_

'_El dice que va a matarte………él dice que tengo que verlo………….'_

_He broke down completely now as Danny hugged him tightly as anger raged through him._

'_Oh very touching' West's sneering tone grated on Danny's nerves but he gritted his teeth….he needed to persuade him to let Nicky go and he could only do that if he stayed calm…._

_He continued to hold Nicky, stroking his hair as he tried to comfort him_

'_Look, you've got me….he doesn't need to see what ever it is you intend to do to me'; to the end of his days Danny would never know how he managed to keep his voice so calm_

_West had moved so he stood behind Nicky, and Danny had his first sight of him; he couldn't be older than 25, Danny decided. He was a good 4 inches shorter and 20lbs lighter than him…..overall, Danny would have fancied his chances against him if it wasn't for the gun he was pointing at his head and the maniacal gleam in his eyes……….._

_Danny kept his face calm, meeting West's wild stare whilst continuing to comfort Nicky. The boy was still quietly sobbing._

_West continued to stare at him but Danny could see indecision in his eyes and he remained quiet, offering up a silent prayer that he would let the boy go……….._

_West's eyes narrowed; 'well someone is going to watch you die, so if it's not the brat who do you suggest?'_

_Danny fought the anger rising within him and took a deep breath; 'my colleagues will be here soon…..will they do?' there was an edge to his voice and he saw West smile a cruel, pitiless smile…….._

'_Hmm, yes, they should do nicely' he looked thoughtfully at Nicky, 'he can go into the office….I'm sure someone will let him go when this is all over'_

_He jerked the gun, indicating that Danny should move back….Danny hesitated, hugged Nicky tightly and murmured; 'be brave, I love you' before he moved back_

_Nicky started to cry harder and Danny saw West look annoyed; he leant towards Nicky and said urgently_

'_Nicky, mírame' he captured the boys frightened gaze with his own steady one,'tienes que ser valiente por mi, por tu madre, por tu padre y por tu hermana. Harás eso? Serás valiente por mi?_

_He saw Nicky take a deep breath as he struggled to control himself then nod. Danny managed to smile at him as West walked behind him again_

'_Hands behind your back'_

_Danny gave Nicky another encouraging smile as he felt West tie his hands tightly together behind his back; he felt himself pulled backwards so that he landed on the floor. West stood over him waving the gun at him_

'_I'm going to take the brat to the office. If you try anything, if you even move I'll go back to the office and kill him' he indicated toward office which was up a set of metal stairs and on a platform that overlooked the warehouse, 'I'll be able to see you……..its your choice'_

_He turned and moved behind Nicky, untying him from his chair and pulling him to his feat_

_Tío Danny_

'_Vale, se valiente, todo saldrá bien', Danny tried to sound as if he believed what he was saying as West forced Nicky up the stairs and into the office_

_Danny frantically looked around, trying to see something, anything that he could use to overpower West, but he couldn't see anything……….he heard the sound of the door to the office closing and watched as West walked down the stairs………_

_End of flashback_

They reached the exit as he finished his description………..outside the warehouse were a large number of patrol cars, two ambulances and a number of government issue sedans and SUV's along with a huge number of people

Ellie stopped him for a moment and he turned to look at her, wondering what she thought of his actions

'Danny, you did the right thing…………you did the only thing you could have done'

He felt a sense of relief as he realised that she didn't think he was a fool, and explained further; 'I knew that you and Jack were on your way….I just hoped I could keep him talking long enough for you to get here…….'he hesitated as he looked over to where he could see Jack comforting Nicky, 'I just hoped I could persuade him to let Nicky go'

She smiled at him and he could see tears in her eyes as she gave him a gentle push; 'go and see him, he needs you…………'

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**St Lukes ER Dept – 2:30am Tuesday morning**

'The head wound is messy but not dangerous. I suspect there is a slight concussion but the head CT is clear and he _seems_ fine…' the Doctor looked at Danny doubtfully and then back to Ellie

Ellie flashed the Doctor a wide smile; 'oh he's always like this' she had to fight to hold onto her composure as she saw Danny scowl at her as he asked suspiciously

'What do you mean by that?'

Ellie ignored him as she continued her conversation with the Doctor; 'So is he OK to be released?'

The Doctor frowned; 'Well he is, but only if there is someone to stay with him…..it's only to be on the safe side…I'm not expecting any complications….' He looked at Ellie, 'does he have anyone to stay with him?'

As the Doctor was talking, Ellie could see the expression on Danny's face change from a scowl to thoughtful to speculative as he heard that someone needed to stay with him……….Ellie struggled to keep her face straight

'Yes, he's got someone to stay with him' she could feel the heat of Danny's stare………….

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Danny's Apartment – 3:15am Tuesday morning **

Danny felt a sense of relief as they arrived at his apartment; after the intensity of the last few hours it felt good to be at home…………to be at home with Ellie……….

He closed the door and shot the deadlock home and suddenly he remembered Saturday night…………

He turned toward her, catching hold of her arm and pulling her to him as he leaned against the door; she came without resistance, moving into his arms and raising her face to his. Their lips met in a soft kiss as they stared into each others eyes.

Danny pulled her closer, his hand snaking through her hair so that he held the back of her head as he kissed her again, harder this time, their tongues tangling as the heat between them built…………..

After a long, passionate kiss they parted, both slightly breathless………

'You know, I don't think this is what the Doctor had in mind……..'

'I think this is exactly what the Doctor had in mind……..' he laughed at the surprise on her face as he continued, 'I noticed how he was looking at you……..' he laughed harder at the shock on her face

'He wasn't…………'

'Oh come on, you're not telling me you can't tell when a guy is interested in you……….'

Her eyes narrowed and her voice took on a prim and proper tone as she replied; 'I wasn't paying attention to him, I was concerned about you……'

Danny swooped in for another kiss as he let his hands start to roam over her body; he was rewarded by hearing her moan softly and arch her back as she pressed closer, her arms sliding around his neck, one hand running through his hair…………he winced

She pulled back immediately looking worried; 'see, I told you….you need to rest….'she stopped as she saw him shake his head

'West grabbed me by the hair a couple of times………it's just a bit tender where he pulled my hair…' his words ended as he started to nuzzle her neck and the base of her throat………

'Are….are you sure?' she was struggling to get the words out as Danny's mouth traced kisses across the sensitive skin at the base of her throat and his hands slid down over her hips

He broke off for a moment to stare at her; whatever she saw in his eyes seemed to be enough…….she held his eyes with hers as she stepped back and slid her jacket off, tossing it onto the couch. A slow smile formed on her face and it sent waves of heat through his body and he watched, transfixed, as she undid her shirt, still staring straight into his eyes……….the shirt joined the jacket on the couch…………..

Danny stepped forward, capturing her face with his hands as he kissed her again and the heat ignited between them…………

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The path to the bed was littered with their clothes; Danny's jacket and tie remained by the front door, their shoes and his socks lay by the coffee table, Danny's shirt had joined Ellie's on the couch and both left their suit pants at the bedroom door, Ellie's bra decorated the chest of drawers at the entrance to Danny's bedroom and his boxers and her panties lay at the foot of the bed.

Danny pulled her closer as they lay, sated, in each others arms, their legs tangled together. He dropped a kiss onto the top of her head and felt her smile and then drop a kiss onto his chest as her arms tightened around him…………….

He felt his eyes grow heavy…………his last conscious thought was how very right it felt to hold her, and how he could definitely get used to falling asleep like this………………

**A/N**:

Some thankyou's……………….. to **Ninz** for her help and her wonderful comments, to **Ukeleleboy** for the Spanish translations (if there are any mistakes they will be mine!)

And also, thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, I really appreciate you taking the time……..please keep them coming, they provide the motivation to keep going when writers block strikes!

**Spanish translations**

_Tío Danny, estoy asustado, ese hombre me asusta - Uncle Danny, I'm scared, the man's scaring me_

_Estaré ahí pronto Nicky, se valiente - I'll be there soon Nicky, be brave_

_Estarás bien, él no va a hacerte daño. Se valiente todo acabará pronto - You'll be OK; he's not going to hurt you. Be brave it will be over soon_

_El dice que va a matarte………………… él dice que tengo que verlo - He say's he's going to kill you………….he say's I have to watch………._

_Nicky, mírame - Nicky, look at me_

_tienes que ser valiente por mi, por tu madre, por tu padre y por tu hermana. Harás eso? Serás valiente por mi? – you have to be brave for me, for your mother and father and for your sister. Will you do that? Will you be brave for me?'_

_Tío Danny - Uncle Danny_

_Vale, se valiente, todo saldrá bien - It's OK, be brave, everything will be OK_


	12. Chapter 12

**Tuesday morning – Danny's Apartment **

_She felt cold and scared. The room was small with no windows and no furniture; she sat on the floor huddled into the corner, pulling her coat around her tightly in an effort to feel warmer. _

_She knew she had been there for a long time because she felt hungry and thirsty. The door opened and a man came in; he was looking at her with such hatred in his eyes that she started to cry. _

_'You nearly ruined everything and I won't let that happen again. You'll stay here until you can't cause any more trouble……………..' _

The nightmare, the one she hadn't had in years, jerked Ellie awake. She lay rigid, coated in a fine sheen of sweat feeling her heart pounding in her chest.

She could hear the sound of Danny breathing steadily next to her and see the light creeping in around the blinds. She glanced at the clock to see that it showed 8:34am. She knew she would never go back to sleep now and he looked so peaceful; she didn't want to wake him. She slid carefully out from under the covers, grabbed one of his t shirt's, pulled it on and headed for the kitchen to get a glass of water.

She found a glass and turned the faucet on, watching with detached fascination as her hand shook as she held the glass under the stream of water. She took a long drink, trying to breathe steadily, trying to stop herself shaking. It had been a long time since she'd had that nightmare, the one that had plagued her when she was a child.

She curled up on Danny's couch as she gradually felt her heart rate and breathing return to normal; she shifted, trying to get comfortable, tempted to crawl back into bed and cuddle up next to Danny and feel his warmth………to feel safe.

_He made her feel safe_. She had to repeat it to herself again before she believed it and the realisation shocked her for a moment. She held her breath, waiting for the familiar feeling of wanting to escape sweep over her, but instead she felt a gentle warmth begin to spread through her body. She remembered that feeling, although she hadn't felt it since her grandparents had died.

Danny.

Somehow, in a week, he had got under all her defences. Her mind drifted to last night, remembering their lovemaking…………..and it had been lovemaking; nothing else could explain the gut wrenching need to be as close to him as possible, to give herself to him unconditionally, so that there was nothing other than him, his mouth on hers, his hands on her body, him calling her name……………..

She was falling in love with Danny Taylor.

_But how does he feel about you, Ellie? _

The voice inside her head made her pause and wonder how Danny viewed this 'relationship' they had. Her instinct was that he cared about her, that he had let her get closer than he would let a casual girlfriend get but……………………Ellie clutched the now empty glass to her as she picked over the moments they had shared during the last week, trying to find clues to how Danny felt about it all.

'Ellie?'

She jumped and turned her head quickly. Danny was standing at the bedroom door, rubbing sleep filled eyes, a concerned look on his face

'Are you OK?' he sounded worried, almost hesitant

She pushed her thoughts away and smiled at him; 'I was thirsty; I didn't want to wake you up………….'

He came over to the couch and stood looking down at her, a faint frown creasing his forehead. She didn't let him speak, not wanting him to ask if anything was wrong;she didn't want to have this conversation yet and she didn't want to lie to him. Instead she reached for his hand and tugged at it so that he joined her on the couch. As soon as he sat down she moved so that she was straddling him, her arms sliding around his neck

He smiled and she kissed him, feeling his lips moving beneath hers, his mouth opening so their tongues could tangle in a heated dance that sent bolts of electricity to every part of her. His hands began slowly roaming over her body leaving a trail of fire where they touched; they slid over her thighs and hips, up her back, then slowly, teasingly, down to her waist before they slid upwards again, this time finding her breasts. She felt the heat rush through her body, and her back involuntarily arch, as he used his thumbs to brush her nipples; she moaned into his mouth and felt his response.

His hands slid higher, tugging at the t shirt and she obediently broke the kiss and lifted her arms so that he could remove it. His eyes were dark, desire clearly evident in them as he let his gaze roam over her body.

'Christ you're beautiful…….'

His voice sounded rough and he pulled her towards him again, one hand on her breast, the other knotted into her hair as he kissed her passionately then twisted so that she was tumbled onto the couch and he was poised above her

She pulled impatiently at his boxer shorts, pushing them down so, with his help, they joined the t-shirt on the floor. He was on top of her now, trailing kisses down her body, leaving her writhing in pleasure at each touch of his mouth and hands. She felt his tongue rasp across her nipple and she heard a cry escape her that had him moving back up and join his mouth with hers in a fierce kiss. She wanted him inside her; she wrapped her legs around him as he entered her and they began to move together, the tension building until they reached the peak and the white heat exploded within her.

They lay in each others arms, neither speaking, as their breathing slowly returned to normal. Eventually Danny moved her gently so that he was lying on the couch and she was lying on him. The feeling of lying in his arms, feeling his hand gently stroke her hair, was one she thought she would never grow tired of. A thought suddenly occurred to her and she cursed inwardly, feeling terrible for not remembering sooner. She raised her head to look at him; he smiled sleepily at her

'You know, any time you feel thirsty…………..feel free to, er, not wake me'

She laughed, letting one hand gently stroke his face and seeing a strange look in his eyes.

'So, how's your head?'

'You know something, it feels pretty good at the moment…..' he reached up and tucked some stray hair behind her ear as he smiled at her; 'do you realise that we haven't been interrupted by the phone……..'

Ellie placed a finger on his lips which stilled his words

'Shh, you'll jinx it………'

They both collapsed laughing as a cell phone began to ring

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**Tuesday morning – FBI Offices **

'Jack, take a seat'; Paula Van Doren looked up from the file she was reading and indicated toward the chair opposite hers

Jack settled in the seat watching her as she rearranged the material in the file. She seemed to be taking longer than necessary, carefully lining up the papers so that the edges matched; she fiddled for a bit longer then she looked up

Jack, I've had Washington on the phone to me this morning; they are sending down a senior OPR investigator to look into the shooting at the warehouse last night'

Jack stared at her, knowing his face showed the anger he could feel building up inside

'What the hell is going on here? I haven't even given you the official report of the incident yet and you tell me OPR want to investigate? It was a good shoot………..' he stopped as he saw her hold up her hand, an apologetic look on her face

'Jack, you aren't telling me anything that I haven't told Washington but I'm being overruled and this is coming from the top………………the OPR investigation starts tomorrow morning and I can't do anything to stop it'

Jack stared at her in disbelief; 'What do you mean, 'it's coming from the top'? Who's making this happen?'

'I've made some phone calls and I'm not getting much back at all……………' she hesitated before continuing, 'actually that's not strictly true. What I'm getting back is that the reason we have the OPR coming in isn't so much the unusual circumstances of the case, it's not even Agent Taylor's rather reckless actions in going to the warehouse without backup; my contact in Washington suggested that it is infact because Agent Shaughnessy was involved.'

She was staring at Jack, a question on her face. Jack stared back, stunned at this latest revelation.

'Well Jack?' there was a grim note to her voice and she looked pretty pissed off about the whole situation

Jack thought furiously, trying to decide what he should tell her. He could tell her everything he had learned so far, the rumours of the affair with Victor Fitzgerald, the missing information from her file, the incident in his office last week when Victor had threatened to re-assign her and then immediately changed his mind, but he wasn't sure what they all meant himself yet and the search for Nicky yesterday had meant he hadn't been able to ask Ellie. But if he told Van Doren it became 'official' and he didn't want that.

He met her angry stare aware that his hesitation was making her angrier still

'Jack, if you know something about Agent Shaughnessy that is relevant to _this_ matter then you need to tell me'

Jack caught the emphasis she placed on '_this _matter' and felt a surge of elation run through him; she had just given him his get out clause

'I don't know anything about Agent Shaughnessy that is relevant to _this_ matter' he affirmed... _some unsubstantiated rumours and innuendo but none of it relates to this OPR review...as far as I know..._

Van Doren glared at him but Jack got the feeling that she had picked her words as carefully as he had picked his and he suddenly wondered if this was her way of keeping her hands clean in case this whole mess exploded.

'Right, well, I'll need your report and all the paperwork on my desk by the close of play today, no excuses' the warning tone in her voice was clear

'I told Danny to take the day off, he needs to spend time with his family and his brother is still in a coma……………….'

'I need his paperwork. I appreciate that he has personal issues that need dealing with but this can't wait.'

Jack scowled but could see her point; 'I'll call him and let him know. I told Ellie to come in late; I'll get her to do her report as soon as she comes in'

Van Doren nodded, her eyes going back to the file on her desk and Jack stood up. As he reached the door of her office he turned back; 'You know, Ellie Shaughnessy deserves a commendation for last night, not an OPR investigation, and that's what my report is going to say'

Van Doren looked up and for a moment their eyes held then she frowned; 'Jack, whatever it is that you know and I don't, tread carefully'

He stared at her, hearing the warning tone in her voice and seeing genuine concern in her eyes. He nodded and their eyes held for another heartbeat before she dropped her eyes back to the file again.

Jack headed to his office and dialled Danny's cell phone. It was nearly 10am and he hoped he was up and not still asleep.

' Taylor'

Danny sounded as if he was trying not to laugh

'Danny, its Jack, how are you feeling?' He thought he could hear movement in the background and the sound of a woman's laugh

'OK, my heads fine now'

Jack thought he still sounded as if he was trying not to laugh

'Er, not called at a bad time have I?'

Now Danny did laugh; 'No…….your timing was pretty much perfect'

Jack opened his mouth to ask what Danny meant by that but Danny continued

'So what can I do for you?'

Jack explained about the OPR visit and the need for the paperwork to be done by the end of the day. Danny was silent at the other end of the phone when Jack finished speaking, he spoke but his voice sounded subdued now

'This OPR investigation; it isn't standard operating practice for it to happen straight away. Usually investigations like this only happen if an agent has been shot or it's alleged that an agent shot and killed a suspect without due cause.'

Jack knew Danny was right; 'I know, there's something funny about all of this but we are where we are and we need to get the paperwork done; delaying them will only make things worse. Come in when it best suits you; you only need to stay for as long as it takes you to do the report, I know you need to spend time with Sylvia, Nicky and Rafi today.'

There was a pause at the other end and a sound that made Jack think that Danny was having a conversation with someone else, then he spoke again

'I'll come in and do the paperwork then I'll get over to the hospital if that's OK'

The call ended. Jack sat for a moment staring at the phone certain that there had been someone with Danny. He remembered the conversation with Ellie in the car last night and her insistence that she would stay with him at the hospital…………………..he groaned; he liked Ellie but trouble seemed to be following her at the moment and he didn't want Danny caught up in it.

Another thought occurred to him. When he had been in Van Doren's office she had implied the OPR investigation was coming from the top. Jack reached for the phone and dialled another number

'Good morning, Victor Fitzgeralds office. How may I assist you?'

'I need to speak to him urgently; it's Jack Malone from the New York MPU'

He was put on hold for a few minutes then he heard Victor's voice. 'Jack, what can I do for you?' he sounded impatient

'I have OPR about to crawl all over me and I think you know why' Jack made no effort to disguise the anger. There was a silence for a moment then;

'I have no idea what you are talking about………….'

'Yes you do…………and if you're having trouble with your memory then think back to a conversation you had with Harold Ford a few days ago' Jack was almost shouting down the phone now.

Another silence then; 'I'm in New York on Thursday for a meeting; I'll fly in tomorrow afternoon so we can talk'

'Yeah? And what about this OPR investigation?'

Jack heard a sound that almost sounded like a sigh and when Victor spoke it was in a very different tone than before. Now he sounded almost subdued

'I can't do anything about that'

'What the hell are you talking about? You're the Deputy Director for chrissakes' the frustration Jack was feeling boiled over now

'And I have a lot of enemies and at the moment and they can scent blood. I have to tread carefully here Jack otherwise I'll be out of a job'

'Victor what the hell is it about you and Ellie Shaughnessy that means you have to watch what you do?' Jack spoke without thinking and heard the sharpe intake of breath at the other end of the phone, but he was so angry he didn't care. He waited for Victor to speak

'I can't tell you anything………….I did enough damage to her in the past, I wont do any more if I can help it. Before I tell you anything I need to speak to her and I need to speak to Martin'

Jack realised he was gripping the phone tightly, stunned at what he was hearing. Victor continued

'You can ask Ellie…….you might want to tell her what you know and about this conversation. It might make her more amenable to talking to you but don't bank on it. There is no-one she trusts about this and with good reason'

The phone went dead. Jack sat a stared sightlessly across his office trying to make some sense of what he had heard but he couldn't…………………..he placed the receiver down carefully and sat back, running a hand through his hair distractedly as he remembered what Victor had said

_'I can't tell you anything………….I did enough damage to her in the past, I wont do any more if I can help it. Before I tell you anything I need to speak to her and I need to speak to Martin' _

Jack wondered what the damage could be...and why Victor needed to speak to Martin………..


	13. Chapter 13

**FBI Offices Parking Lot – Tuesday 11:30am**

'He'll know'

'Who'll know what?' Ellie looked confused

'Jack'll know why it's taken us so long to get here'; Danny knew he sounded smug but couldn't help it. It had nothing to do with his certainty that Jack would know why it had taken them so long to arrive at the office, and everything to do with how she made him feel; like he'd just won the lottery jackpot when he had no recollection of buying a ticket.

She was laughing as he continued, a thoughtful look replacing the smug one; 'interesting……I never realised that taking a shower could take so long………..or be such fun'

'Really…?' she looked and sounded as if she didn't believe for a second that was the case, she continued 'you're trying to tell me that you've never...' before she could finish Danny pulled her to him and kissed her quickly before letting her go, laughing at the surprise showing on her face and how she quickly looked around to see if there was anyone else in the parking lot.

He pushed the button to call the elevator. A quick look around had showed him that there was no-one around, and he had no intention of wasting an an opportunity to kiss her again; he slid his arm around her waist and pulled her toward him. She went without protest, returning his kiss with a passion that left his toes tingling.

The opening of the elevator door caused them to break the kiss and look around guiltily, both relieved to see an empty car. Danny pulled her in, pushed the button to send the car to the 12th floor, and promptly started kissing her again. The car came to a halt and they broke apart, both laughing, as the door opened.

Martin and Sam were sat at the conference table doing paperwork and both looked up as Danny and Ellie arrived at their desks. Danny noticed the look they exchanged and the grins on both of their faces before Sam's face took on a slightly more serious expression.

'Hey, how are Rafi and Nicky doing?'

Danny perched on the edge of his desk and shook his head; 'There's been no change with Rafi. They're doing more tests and we should have an update later today. When I've done this report I'm going over to see Sylvia and Nicky. I spoke to her earlier; she said he's doing as well as can be expected but she asked me to wait until this afternoon to see them.'

Sam nodded and glanced at Ellie as she dropped some papers and a notebook onto the conference table and sat down. Martin leaned over, staring at the cover of the notebook. Danny took the final seat at the table noticing Martin's interest; he lent forward and could see that Ellie's notebook was covered with sketches and doodles.

'Hey, these are great, you've got real talent' Martin sounded impressed

Danny grinned at Ellie; 'you must get that from your Mom'

She stared back at him, her face frozen. Danny frowned, wondering what had caused the reaction; Martin telling he she had talent, or his mention of her Mother. Before how could decide, or indeed say anything, Martin spoke;

'Is your mother an artist then?'

Danny watched in surprise as he saw the frozen look replaced with one he could only describe as panicked, before she managed to answer

'Yes, she was' her tone was abrupt; Danny saw that Sam had noticed too and was looking curiously at Ellie

'Would I know her?' Martin finally looked up from staring at the notebook, a smile on his face. Danny saw Ellie force a smile in return as she hesitated for a moment, staring at Martin, then, slowly

'You might, she used the name Isabella Dupree'

It was Danny's turn to feel stunned now even as he saw the looks on both of Sam and Martins faces. Even he'd heard of Isabella Dupree……..

'There's a major exhibition of her work showing at the moment………I went a couple of weeks ago' Martin was staring at Ellie in astonishment

She just nodded, looking awkward and then picked up her notebook and opened it, giving the impression that she considered the discussion over.

Sam glanced at him, her eyebrows raised but Danny shook his head; this was news to him as well.

Martin continued; 'she painted my grandmothers portrait……it was years ago now but I remember it used to hang on the wall above the fireplace.'

The pen that Ellie was gripping suddenly broke, sending shards of plastic everywhere. She jumped up, sweeping the bits together and placing them in the bin before she looked at Martin

'It's a small world isn't it'; her voice sounded strained to Danny's ears and he was even more convinced now that this was a subject she wanted to change. From the look on Martin and Sam's faces they had realised that something wasn't quite right too. Ellie sighed and then offered them all a weak smile

'Sorry, she only died at Christmas……….and we had a lousy relationship. I'm just not good at talking about her' she shrugged apologetically

Martin smiled at her; 'hey don't worry about it, sorry to bring it up'

She looked as if she was about to say something more but before she could Jack appeared;

'Good you're both here' he glanced pointedly at his watch, a slight smirk on his face. Danny glanced at Ellie; their eyes met before she looked away quickly obviously trying not to laugh. He guessed she was recalling their conversation in the parking lot.

'Danny I need your report asap; Ellie, I need to see you in the office as soon as your report is finished' with this Jack turned and walked away

'Guess we better get these damn reports done then' Danny looked at Ellie as he spoke; he would have sworn she looked relieved.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Jacks Office – Tuesday 2:00pm**

Jack looked up as the door to his office opened and Ellie walked in carrying two mugs of coffee. She handed him one

'Thought you might need this'

He smiled his thanks and indicated that she should sit down as he picked up the file containing the reports they had all filed.

'Thanks for your report. I've sent a copy up to Van Doren and one to the OPR for whoever it is we have coming in tomorrow to conduct this witch hunt' he chose his words deliberately and saw her stare at him in surprise

'Witch hunt?'

Jack continued to watch her carefully as he spoke; 'Sure, have you ever heard of them coming in so soon on a case like this one?'

She shrugged, staring at him thoughtfully; 'well no, but I suppose an agent was held hostage so….' she pulled a face and waited for him to continue.

He pulled out her file, extracted a report and handed it to her

'Have you seen this before?'

She glanced at him quickly before looking at the report. She looked up, a frown on her face; 'sure, it's the report that jackass from Washington wrote after the Bellamy kidnapping. He was pissed at how everything went off and this was his attempt to cover his sorry ass. You asked me about it last week'

She looked at him, her expression suggesting she couldn't see why he was asking her about this again

'When we spoke last week you didn't mention about the report from your Chief of Station' Jack was still watching her and now saw real confusion cross her face

'Well why would I, it was in the file, you can read'; she sounded irritated now

'It wasn't in the file'

Ellie frowned; 'what do you mean it wasn't in the file…..why the hell would it not be in the file?

Jack ignored the question for a moment as he continued; 'well it wasn't in the file, but what was in the file was a memo outlining the row you had with Victor a couple of days before you transferred here'

She stared in disbelief at him; 'I was told that nothing was happening about that, not even unofficially'

'Well, there was a note in the file. You can imagine what I thought; you'd avoided an OPR investigation and a censure, so I rang Ed Williams. He told me that he'd been told that you and Victor are or have been, having an affair'

Jack didn't know what to expect when he said this and he was prepared for most things including her throwing something at him, but what he wasn't expecting was for her to laugh at him……….well, maybe in disbelief but certainly not as if she found this the funniest thing she'd heard in years.

He stared at her as she struggled to get herself back under control again. Once she had regained a modicum of control she spoke, although he could hear the laughter just below the surface

'Victor and I……….an affair…………….oh god, how funny is that'

Jack stared at her, but she didn't continue, just stared back, a grin still plastered across her face

'You're not bothered that people think that you have been having an affair with the Deputy Director?' he could hear the disbelief in his voice

The laughter had faded from her voice now although she still looked highly amused by the whole thing

'Well, yes a bit but as I'm NOT having an affair with him…...' he saw her shudder slightly, 'I'm not particularly worried, no'

'Even though someone went to the trouble of doctoring your file so it would look as if you were? Hoping, I imagine, that it would come out whilst you are in the New York office, working with his son…..'

At this Jack saw the laughter fade from her face; 'Hmm, that wouldn't have been good would it……….mind you, might have been funny watching Victor talk his way out of it' her voice had changed; now she sounded as if nothing would give her greater pleasure than watch Victor squirm

'What is it he did to you……why did he tell me that he had 'caused you enough damage in the past' and that he can't tell me anymore until he's spoken to you and to Martin'

Jack spoke bluntly, watching her carefully for her reaction; her face which moments before had still shown amusement at the thought of Victor having to try and explain the situation away now changed to one of genuine surprise

'He said that…….about the damage he had done and that he needed to speak to Martin?'

Jack nodded impatiently. She pursed her lips

'Well I'll be damned……Victor Fitzgerald developing a conscience' she looked up at Jack and her face had changed again, a hard unforgiving look on it, 'I'll believe it when I see it and I won't be holding my breath'

'Well he's flying in tomorrow afternoon specifically to sort this out...you know a rumour like this could wreck his career.'

She shrugged, the expression on her face suggested that she didn't give a damn about Victor or his career;

'You don't expect me to feel bad about that do you? He's wrecked far more than a career in his time'

Jack sighed; 'Look, all I know is that this is a bomb waiting to go off and a lot of people could get hurt if it does, including Martin and Danny, and I don't want that. I know you don't know me well but I can help if you'll let me'

She stared at him for what felt like hours before she slowly nodded her head and just for a moment Jack thought she was going to trust him, to open up and explain what the hell was going on, but...

'I'm sorry; it's not that I don't trust you but I want to wait until I've had a chance to hear what Victor has to say tomorrow...' she paused and for a moment she shifted her gaze from him and stared sightlessly at the wall behind his head before her eyes snapped back into focus and met his stare again; 'it's just that it doesn't just affect me and if Victor does want to tell Martin, then he should hear it first...'

Jack stared at her feeling more frustrated than he could remember in a long time. She was staring back at him, a serious expression in her eyes and he could see that she had no intention of saying any more to him.

She stood up; 'look, there is some stuff I need to do and we don't have an active case so is it OK if I get off?'

He sighed and nodded his head. She paused at the door

'I appreciate this must be frustrating for you but I promise I will explain everything after I've seen Victor'

He watched as she left his office and headed for the bullpen. A minute later he saw her heading for the elevator. He sighed, hoping that after tomorrow things would be clearer

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**Martin's Apartment – Tuesday 7:00pm**

'So, Chinese or Pizza?' Sam looked over at Martin who was still rummaging through some papers in a drawer

'Huh?' he looked at her, confused

'I asked if you wanted Chinese or Pizza…………Martin what are you doing? You've been searching for something for the last 20 minutes?'

Martin went back to searching through the drawer; 'I'm sure that I didn't throw out the catalogue from the Isabella Dupree exhibition………..hah, got it'

He turned and flourished the catalogue under Sam's nose as she stared in disbelief at him

'Why do you want that?'

Martin was flicking through the catalogue and didn't reply. Instead she heard a grunt of satisfaction as he found what he was looking for. He held the catalogue out to Sam

'Look at this picture, who does it remind you of?'

Sam took the catalogue, feeling confused, but looked at the photograph Martin was pointing to. It showed a woman with fair hair smiling into the camera. Sam stared at it for a moment then shrugged her shoulders

'No-one, it doesn't remind me of anyone' she looked down and read the caption

_Isabella Dupree, aged 35_

She stared at Martin; 'Ellie's mother. She's very pretty but they don't look at all alike………..I guess Ellie takes after her father……..what?' the expression on Martin's face stopped her

'Ellie and I had a conversation about family resemblance last week…………she told me that she took after her mothers side of the family'

Sam stared at him, wondering why Martin was as bothered as he clearly was; 'well maybe she looks like an aunt or something…………..' she stopped again as Martin reached for a box and started rummaging in it

'My mother sent me a load of old photo's that she found after my aunt died'

'Bonnie?'

'No, my father's sister, Helen. She never married. She died late last year from cancer. She was the family hoarder and my mother helped clear everything out. Helen asked that I should get a load of old family photos…….I think she thought I was the only one who was interested in them……….' Martin was routing through the box until he emerged clutching two photo's

'Here, look at this one'

Sam looked at the photo in her hand; it showed a woman standing between two men. They were all smiling at the camera. She looked at Martin

'That's Ellie's mom standing next to your father and…….I'm not sure who…'

'My grandfather……..look on the back. It's when she painted my grandmother. I checked Ellie's birth date as well. It's around the time her mother would have fallen pregnant with her.'

Sam stared at him, still not sure what he was getting at. He held out the next photo

Sam stared at the photo of a woman who must have been in her late 20's. Her hair was lose and she was smiling happily at the camera; Sam looked up at Martin, aware her jaw was hanging open

'That could be Ellie……….'

'Well it's not, it's my Aunt Helen'

Sam gaped at him; 'You think that, that………your father and Ellie's mom……….'

'I think Ellie is my sister'


	14. Chapter 14

**Brooklyn Bridge – Tuesday 7:10pm**

Danny stared across the murky waters of the East River. In the distance he could see the Statue of Liberty, clearly visible despite the lowering clouds that warned of coming rain. His eyes fixed on the Statue; all it was meant to stand for, freedom from oppression, the rights of the individual, hell, even freedom of speech seemed like a mockery as his mind struggled to process all he had just learned.

She moved in his arms and he tightened his hold as he felt her press her head into the crook of his neck, the dampness of her tears soaking into his jacket. He moved one hand and began stroking her hair, soothing her as he would a child. They stood like that, oblivious to everything going on around them for close to 10 minutes before a spot of rain warned of the storm to come.

'Hey'

She raised her head and looked at him; the remains of the tears she had shed were still visible making her eyes look as dark and murky as the river below them.

'It looks like its starting to rain'

She nodded but didn't make any attempt to move; instead she let her head fall back onto his shoulder again. Danny dropped a kiss onto the top of her head as the rain began to fall in earnest.

'What do you want to do?' his hand continued its rhythmic stroking of her hair. Her body was relaxed against his but at his question he felt her tense and then straighten up and raise her head to look at him again

'What do you think I should do……..I mean, from what Jacks told me this is all going to come out and Victor is coming tomorrow……………' she trailed off a helpless look in her eyes that shocked him but touched him at the same time as he realised how much trust she was placing in him.

He hesitated before answering, trying to pick his words with care; 'I think that there are a lot of ways this can all come out…………but Ellie, this is _your_ life we are talking about; more than anyone else involved you have a right to decide how people find out.'

She stared at him, her eyes showing the consideration she was giving to his words as he continued, 'What is it you want to happen now?'

Their eyes remained glued together for a few moments more before he saw the helpless look return

'I promised Victor……………' Danny cut her off before she could say anything more

'How can you possibly think that bastard deserves any consideration after what he's done to you?'

Her head jerked as if she had been hit as she heard the anger in his words, but she continued to meet his now angry stare.

'He has a right to tell Martin………….'

'Actually, no, he doesn't. I think Martin has a right to know but I think Victor has no more right to tell him than you do and if I was Martin I'd rather hear it from you and know I was getting the truth that be force fed Victors warped version'

The rain was falling harder now but neither moved. He watched as a number of different emotions flittered across her face but he remained silent, content to allow her the time she needed to reach her decision.

'If you were Martin, would you really want to hear this from me rather than Victor?' she spoke slowly, her eyes watching his face closely.

Danny cupped her face with his hands, bending closer so their faces were only a couple of inches apart; 'Ellie you have to do what's right for you and if that involves telling Martin then tell him. All I can tell you is that knowing him as I do he'll thank you for telling him.'

Their gaze remained fixed on each other for a few moments longer then she reached a hand out and gently stroked his face; 'Danny…..I………..' she stopped and he saw an almost shocked look in her eyes before she banished it and smiled at him as she continued, '……thank you' she closed the small distance between them and kissed him softly on the lips.

He smiled at her, becoming aware for the first time of how wet they were both getting; 'so what do you want to do?'

Her eyes met his and there was no hint of indecision now; 'I want to go and see Martin'

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Martin's Apartment - 8:00pm Tuesday **

Ellie lifted her hand to knock on the door to Martin's apartment then dropped it again. She felt Danny slide an arm around her and hug her gently

'You OK?

She turned her body towards him and for a moment rested her head against his shoulder, welcoming the feeling of warmth and safety it gave her

'You don't have to do this you know' his voice was soft and she could feel his breath against her skin. She slid her arms around his waist and raised her face; 'no, I need to do this, but………I'm not going to tell him everything ok, just the stuff he needs to know to understand what happened; he doesn't need to know it all'

She couldn't stop the slightly pleading note in her voice as she stared into his eyes, willing him to understand. She felt his other arm slide around her as he pulled her close; 'It's up to you what you tell him, its no-one else's decision'

She stood for a moment more in the safety and comfort of his arms then straightened up and quickly reached out and knocked on the door.

It opened almost immediately and Ellie saw the shock on Sam's face when she saw them there. For a moment they all stood in silence then Ellie heard Martin's voice

'Who is it Sam?' he appeared behind her and Ellie registered that his face also showed shock rather than surprise

'Hi, Ellie needs to speak to you about something; it's important'; Ellie was relieved when Danny broke the silence. Sam stepped aside to let them in but Ellie saw the look she and Martin exchanged and wondered what they had interrupted.

'Erm, is this a bad time?'

Martin seemed to spring to life, smiling as he indicated they should sit down on the couch; 'no, sorry……..' he glanced at Sam quickly then met her eyes again, 'it's just a bit of a co-incidence, we were just talking about you'

Ellie stared at him as she slowly sat on the couch; she was about to ask what they had been talking about when something on the coffee table caught her eye. She stared for a moment then raised her eyes to meet Martins;

'I should imagine you were'; her voice was dry and at Danny's surprised look she indicated toward the photos' and saw comprehension in his eyes

Martin was staring at Danny; 'you knew?' his voice held a hint of accusation in it

'No he didn't, well, not until about an hour ago' now she was here Ellie just wanted this over with

'Are you?'

Martin's voice sounded tense and Ellie saw Sam slide her hand into his

'Am I what? What is it you think I am Martin?' she needed to hear him say it, to make sure that she wasn't mis-reading this

'Are you my sister?'

She felt Danny's hand tighten around hers and saw the concern in Sam's eyes even though her eyes didn't waiver from the intense scrutiny that Martin was subjecting her to

She took a deep breath……..

'No, I'm not your sister'

She saw the confusion in Martin's eyes and in Sam's too; she sighed

'Look why don't you sit down and I'll explain……'

'I don't understand……….you are the spitting image of my aunt Helen, your mother knew my father at the time she must have fallen pregnant with you………..how do you look so like her unless you are related to her' his finger stabbed toward the picture on the table and his voice showed the beginnings of anger

'I look like Helen because I am related to Helen……' she hesitated for a heartbeat then the words rushed from her mouth, '……Helen is my half sister'

Martin's face showed his shock, shock which only increased as he thought this through; he shook his head; '……..but, if you are Helen's half sister then…………….' He stopped, trying to get his head around what he was hearing

'Victor isn't my father, he's my brother…….Victors father…I mean your grandfather, is my father' she felt herself stumble over the words, watching to see Martin's reaction to this bombshell, but it was Sam who spoke

'Victor is your _brother_?'

Ellie nodded slowly, still watching Martin. His face, after the initial shock registered, had gone blank. He continued to stand until Sam pushed him gently so that he sat down abruptly on the easy chair next to the sofa

'My grandfather…………' he stared at Ellie for a moment before continuing, 'how come I didn't know………………why didn't you tell me……….more to the point, why the hell didn't my father tell me?'

'Look why don't we all sit down and give Ellie a chance to explain everything?' Danny's voice sounded calm

'Good idea; why don't I make a pot of coffee and order in some Chinese; I suspect this is going to be a long conversation' Sam moved toward the phone as she spoke, not waiting to hear anyone respond.

Whilst Sam ordered the Chinese and made the coffee Martin sat slumped in the chair, staring into space. Danny put his arm around Ellie and pulled her to him. She let him, resting her head on his shoulder while she waited for Martin to be ready to talk some more.

Sam came in with a tray of coffee;

'The food should be here in about 20 minutes,' she set the coffee on the table and went and perched on the arm of the chair. Martin looked up at her and she gently squeezed his hand. He smiled at her and then lent forward looking at Ellie

He smiled nervously; 'I'm guessing there is more to this story; are you up to telling me?'

Ellie felt some of the tension drain from her and returned his smile;

'Sure'; she took a deep breath before she continued

'My mother met your grandfather when she painted your grandmothers portrait. From her diaries and his letters it's obvious that they fell in love. Your grandfather wanted to leave your grandmother and marry my mother………….when the rest of your family found out they were horrified and put a lot of pressure on him to stay. From the letters and diaries it looks as if he was still going to leave but then she was diagnosed with cancer and told she only had a few months to live and so he stayed.'

Martin frowned; 'I didn't know my grandmother had cancer……….I thought she died from pneumonia'

Ellie sighed; she would prefer not to have to tell him the next bit but couldn't see how to avoid it; 'it appears that she didn't have cancer…………Victor told your grandfather that she did to make him stay with her and avoid a scandal'

Martin stared at her; she could see his mind working furiously as he processed all of this. Sam leant forward now

'How do you know this………' she rushed on, an apologetic look on her face, 'I mean, I'm not doubting you I'm just curious to know'

'I'd heard my mother's version at various points in my life, but when she died at the end of last year she left me her diaries and all the letters she and your grandfather wrote to each other' Ellie kept her eyes on Martin even as she answered Sam's question, 'Your grandmother confessed to your grandfather just before she died and she told him that it was Victor who had engineered it'

Martin was still silent; Ellie relaxed back into Danny's arms again, waiting for Martin to be ready to hear more

Eventually he licked his lips before meeting her eyes again; 'ok, but from the little I've seen and from your reaction every time my fathers name is mentioned I would say that there is more to all of this than you've said so far'

Ellie nodded, rehearsing again in her mind what she could tell Martin that would explain her hatred for Victor without telling him more than he needed to know.

'You know my mother was an artist……….her work was everything to her and she had never intended to get married or have children. Falling in love with your grandfather, losing him and then discovering she was pregnant 'unhinged' her for a while. She wanted to terminate the pregnancy but by the time she realised she was pregnant it was too late.'

She saw Sam and Martin's shocked reaction to her words and felt Danny's arm tighten again but she didn't stop, not wanting to lose her nerve

'My early years were spent moving backwards and forwards between my grandparents and my mother. My mother and her parents didn't get on; they were too conventional for her but they supported her when she had me and when she didn't want anything to do with me my grandparents cared for me. They tried to get my mother to assign guardianship to them but she kept refusing……..' she knew her bitterness was showing through but she kept going,

'Every now and then she would decide that she did want to be a mother, come and collect me and take me to live with her until she got caught up in another project and would forget all about me. I lost count of the number of times my grandparents had to come and get me and take me home'

She paused for a moment, taking a sip from her coffee as she readied herself for the next bit of the story; she looked up again and met Martin's eye

'When your grandmother died my mother was euphoric; your grandfather came to see her, told her about what had happened and promised he still loved her and wanted to marry her. That was when I met him, although I had no idea who he was………he was just this nice old man who gave me presents, told me I was pretty and took me to the park for ice-cream.

I remember my mother coming to my grandparents house and telling me that we were going to live in a new house and be a family……….I must have been nearly 9 at the time and I remember thinking that it was just another of my mothers promises that would never be kept. It must have been about a week later that I realised something was wrong. My grandparents told me that my mother was in hospital and that she was very sick. I found out later she had tried to commit suicide………'

'That must have been when my grandfather died of a heart attack.' Martin had a look of intense concentration on his face, 'I remember that my father seemed really angry and I didn't understand why. My mother told me that sometimes grief comes out as anger………..' he met her eyes, 'it wasn't grief was it; it was something to do with the situation with your mother wasn't it?'

Ellie nodded, waiting to see if he wanted to say or ask more, before continuing; 'Yes…….I only found out recently, apparently your grandfather told Victor what he was going to do and they had a huge row. It was during the row that he had his heart attack'

Martin's face showed the turmoil he was in as he started to better understand events from his childhood.

Silence fell, broken moments later as the buzzer sounded indicating that the Chinese had arrived.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

While Sam headed toward the kitchen, Ellie jumped up to open the door to the delivery boy. The expression on her face suggested that a moment away from all of this was welcome.

Danny and Martin remained in the living room. Martin became aware that Danny was watching him, he glanced up and met his eyes and saw the empathy in them

'You OK Marty?'

He felt as if his whole world had just tilted off it's axis but he managed a smile as he replied

'Yeah………..I think as hard as this is for me to hear it must have been infinitely worse for Ellie to live through, especially as I get the impression she's leaving out the worst bits?'

It was just a guess but the expression on Danny face told Martin he had hit the bulls eye. They stared at each other for a moment then Danny leaned forward, lowering his voice as he spoke;

'Look, there is more, a lot more, but be content with what she tells you today. You'll probably be able to persuade her to tell you more eventually but this is really hard for her to talk about'

Danny sat back as he heard Ellie and Sam emerge from the kitchen and shot Martin a warning look.

Once they all had a plateful of food Martin caught Ellie's eye; she smiled; 'you ready for some more or is that enough for now?' Martin got the distinct feeling that if he had told her that was enough she wouldn't have minded at all

'I'll hear as much as you're comfortable telling me.'

She nodded;'OK, well, like I said my mother tried to kill herself when she found out about your grandfather……….'

Her voice trailed off and she looked at Danny seemingly for support; Danny nodded encouragingly at her

'Tell him Ellie, he's not stupid, he knows better than you what Victor can be like'

She swung her eyes back to look at him, and Martin could see the apprehension in them

'While she was in the hospital she contacted the funeral home and asked when the funeral was……..Victor went to see her to tell her that she wasn't welcome. They argued and a lot of things seem to have been said, including my mother taunting him that your grandfather loved me more than him and Helen. She also seems to have threatened to go to the papers with the whole story………..' she stopped again and dropped her eyes to her untouched plate of food.

Martin watched as she pushed some noodles around on the plate for a moment before she picked her head up again; he could see the beginnings of tears in her eyes

'As I understand it Victor told her if she so much as contacted a newspaper he'd know and she'd regret it. Well, after she got out of the hospital she started to use more drugs and more alcohol and she did contact a newspaper and it appears that Victor did find out……………'

Martin watched amazed as her voice broke. She pushed the plate of food onto the table and stood up, looking at Danny;

'You tell him, I can't'; she left the room as the tears began to fall from her eyes

Danny looked as if he wanted to go after her

'Danny, tell me what?' Martin heard the urgent note in his voice, guessing that this was the reason why she hated his father so much

Danny looked at him; 'Victor arranged for Ellie's mom to be caught with enough cocaine that she was done for possession and intent to supply – she was sentenced to 5 years. On top of that child services were informed that Ellie was at risk and so she was taken from her grandparents and put in a group home. It took four years of legal wrangling before she was allowed to go and live with her grandparents again. She's seen the court papers; Victor blocked every attempt her grandparents made to get her back. It nearly bankrupted them……..'

Danny hesitated then went on in a rush; 'Martin she had a dreadful time. She was in the Collingwood Group Home for a while……………..'

Martin felt as if that should be significant but couldn't tie the name down; he was about to ask when he heard Sam's gasp

'Christ that place is infamous…..she was there?'

'Yeah………'

Martin looked at Sam; 'Do I know about this place?'

Sam and Danny exchanged looks but before either could speak he heard another voice

'It was part of the inquiry into child services in New York 10 years ago. It showed up wide scale abuse and the group home at the centre of it was Collingwood'

Martin stared at Ellie, knowing the horror he was feeling was written all over his face but she was looking at Danny

'I thought I said he didn't need to know this bit?'

Danny looked guilty; 'Sorry……..I, er...'

'No, I'm glad you told me' Martin stood up, facing Ellie, 'I'm so sorry…….'

She cut him off; 'Don't you dare apologise; you had nothing to do with this and I don't blame you at all. The only person who needs to apologise is Victor and I suspect it will be a cold day in hell before I hear the word 'sorry' leave his lips'

She didn't sound angry, rather she sounded resigned

'What happened to you after that' Sam's question cut across the silence that had briefly fallen

'My mothers lawyer had fallen for her, managed to get her paroled and then got involved in sorting things out with me. He seems to have had enough clout in the right places to counteract Victors influence and managed to get custody awarded to my grandparents just before I turned 14.'

Silence fell again; Martin looked at Sam and knew they were both trying to find the words to ask the same question. Before either of them could, Ellie spoke again

'If you are trying to ask whether I was abused then the answer is yes I was. It was physical; I was hit a few times and there was a lot of emotional abuse but not sexual…………' she looked at Danny again and Martin thought she was about to ask him to explain but instead she continued

'One night one of the male wardens came to my room and tried to rape me. I managed to get hold of the bedside lamp and smashed it onto his head………..I nearly killed him. The police were called and I was put into a foster home after that'

Her voice was monotone, almost relaxed sounding, as if it was of no significance, but Martin could see her hands folded into tight fists, so tight that the knuckles showed white.

'But why………..' Sam stopped before she completed the question, confusion showing on her face

They all turned to look at her, she sighed; 'but why did you join the FBI?'

Half a smile crossed Ellie's face; 'I know, it sounds crazy doesn't it…I think it was a sort of 'peeing in the other cats sand box' kind of thing. I'd never met Victor, but I blamed him for just about everything and it struck me that he would hate it if I joined, so I did'

Knowing his father as he did Martin could only imagine how pissed off her would have been; 'I bet he hated it didn't he?'

'Yeah; he offered to get me a transfer to NCIS or the CIA but I refused. I told him that if he did anything to me, you know forced me out or made things difficult for me I'd tell you what had happened. He knew I was serious so we agreed to ignore each other and we did, very successfully until the end of last year when my mother died. She made Victor the executor of her will'

Martin stared at her; 'What the hell did she do that for?'

A look of disgust crossed Ellie's face; 'Because she was sure that she knew best……..when she was dying she was obsessed with the fact that once she was gone I wouldn't have any family. She kept asking me to try and 'mend fences' with Victor. We argued about it. Her making Victor the executor was just her way of having the final word in the argument…….she didn't give a damn about how I felt about it.'

'So, you and my father were forced back in contact with each other and that cumulated in the argument you had with him before you came to New York?'

She nodded but the look on her face told him there was more; suddenly a thought occurred to him

'Why tonight? Why come and tell me all of this tonight. You didn't know I'd found those photo's'

Ellie looked at Danny again then looked back at him

'Jack took me to one side this afternoon to ask me about some anomalies in the file he was sent about me when I transferred……….'

'Like what?' Sam looked confused

'Well, for one thing I shouldn't have been transferred. I was supposed to be on vacation. Secondly, my file was doctored to make it look as if I had dodged an OPR enquiry and a censure. Jack investigated and was told I'd avoided them because I was having an affair with Victor'

The stunned silence that followed was broken when Ellie started laughing; 'My god you should see your faces'

'Having an affair…………with VICTOR?' Sam was laughing now too

Ellie grinned before her smile faded again; 'The reason I told you tonight is that someone has found out enough about my 'relationship' with Victor for them to believe that we _are_ having an affair. It looks as if they are using this information in an attempt to ruin Victor's career. Whilst I don't give a damn about him, to take him down they have to take me down too and I'm not going to let that happen. The only way of stopping them is to tell the truth.'

'Who's doing it?' Martin looked as if he was struggling to take this all in

'That's what we have to find out when we talk to Victor tomorrow' Ellie saw the look on his face and smiled apologetically as she continued

'Sorry, didn't Jack tell you? Victor arrives tomorrow afternoon to try and sort this out'

**

* * *

****A/N**: OK, so now you know Ellie's secret!! Hope you thought it was worth the wait; of course we still don't know who's trying to ruin Victor……………. 

I owe a HUGE thank you to the brilliant **Ninz **who is the only reason this chapter was able to be posted prior to 2008 (I had some serious writers block!!!!)

Thanks to everyone who has been reading this fic and also to anyone who has posted a review – I do appreciate you taking the time!


	15. Chapter 15

**Viv's House – 8:15am Wednesday morning**

'More coffee?' Viv held the percolator jug up as she looked enquiringly at Danny

He shook his head; 'I can't eat or drink another thing thanks.' He pushed his empty plate away, a smile on his face.

Viv looked thoughtfully at him; he had been through a torrid few days but he looked a lot better than she had thought he would. When he had rung an hour ago asking if he could 'drop in' she had been worried that recent events had proved too much to cope with and that he had been tempted to have a drink; instead he had spent the last 40 minutes telling her about the revelations of the previous evening.

'So, how do you feel about it all then?'

She laughed at his confused expression and continued, 'You know, about Ellie being Victor's sister……..and Martin's aunt'

Danny started to laugh. 'Yeah, I tried teasing her about that last night when we got back to my place………..' he pulled a face, 'lets just say she made her objection to that subject _painfully_ clear'

By the grin on his face Viv concluded that it hadn't been too painful……..anyway, something he had said deserved her attention.

'You teased her about it when you got back to _yours_ last night?' She grinned at him; 'anything you want to tell me?'

Danny shifted in his seat, the huge grin spreading across his face warring with his obvious embarrassment.

Viv gaped at him as he obviously struggled to find the words he needed; 'my god Danny, this is serious isn't it'

It was as if a damn had broken, and the words spilled from him; 'yeah, and I'm absolutely terrified I'm going to mess up………she's special Viv, she's really special……' he stopped, shrugging his shoulders as he dropped his eyes and stared at his coffee cup

'This is why you really came over isn't it? Viv struggled to keep the amusement from her voice. He shot her a look through lowered brows and shrugged again

'Danny, there's no secret to having a successful relationship; it's about honesty, about respect, about good communication and about trusting someone enough to let them close to you.'

Danny had dropped his eyes so that he was staring at his coffee cup again but as Viv finished speaking he raised his eyes and met hers; what she saw in them told her everything she needed to know

'You know, she trusted me………..she trusted me with something she has never told _anyone_ else. I know what it must have been like for her when she was growing up and I know it makes it almost impossible to trust anyone but she trusted me..' there was a fierce look in his eye as he continued, 'I can't explain how she makes me feel but I know I never want it to stop……..I……I think I'm falling in love with her'

Viv reached out and gently rested her hand on his arm, 'have you told her how you feel?'

Danny shook his head, a rueful smile on his face; 'with the chaos of the last few days there hasn't really been any time to talk about ……………..this' he gestured loosely with his hands as he sat back in his chair.

Viv nodded thoughtfully; 'well, once things have calmed down maybe you should tell her how you are feeling, show her that you trust her as much as she trusts you'

He stared at her, an arrested look in his eyes before slowly nodding his head. Viv decided that she had said enough for the moment.

'Changing the subject, how are Nicky, Sylvia and Rafi?'

Danny's face fell slightly; 'I was at the hospital before I came here' he began fiddling with his coffee cup again; 'Rafi is awake…..'

'That's good news……..' she saw his face; 'isn't it?'

'Yeah…….except he blames me totally for what happened to Nicky. The nurse made me leave; said it wasn't good for him to get so upset'

'Danny he's just coming out of a coma after being stabbed; I wouldn't imagine that he is particularly rational at the moment'

His eyes met hers and he smiled at her as he stood up and gave her a hug

'Thanks Viv, sorry to arrive so early with no notice'

'Anytime………….and let me know when to go shopping'

He stared at her, perplexed. She grinned

'For your wedding; I'll need a new outfit'

He laughed; 'yeah, well don't hold your breath. I'd better get going or I'll be late for this OPR circus; I'll speak to you soon'

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Danny started the car and headed toward the office, feeling glad that he gone to see Viv. Talking to her had helped him realise what he was feeling for Ellie. He smiled as he remembered her reaction to his teasing her last night about being Martin's aunt. He was honest enough to acknowledge that waiting until they were naked hadn't been the cleverest move he had ever made and had given her way too easy a target……..mind you, he wasn't complaining about the result.

Even as his mind replayed their lovemaking his cell phone rang; a quick check of the caller display bought a smile to his face

'Hey, how'd it go with Jack?'

'He took it well, but if Martin calls me Aunty Ellie one more time I swear I'll do something he'll regret' she laughed.

'Yeah, I'd better warn him about that……….'

She was laughing harder now; 'Hmm, well he'll never present me with a target as easy as the one you gave me last night'

'I should hope not' Danny put an expression of mock outrage into his voice

'How did it go at the hospital?'

Danny groaned at the change of subject; 'not good, he's blaming me for what happened to Nicky'

She was silent for a moment then he heard a soft sigh; 'well he's going to be upset but when he's had a chance to calm down I'm sure he'll see it differently'

Before Danny could reply she spoke again; 'where are you?'

'About three blocks from the office'

Another pause then she spoke in a more subdued tone; 'Look we have time before this witch hunt starts. Meet me at Starbucks will you, there's something you need to know before this thing kicks off'

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Starbucks – 9am Wednesday**

Danny walked into Starbucks trying to keep the concern he was feeling at bay. She was sat at a table in the window, staring out toward the Courthouse, lost in thought. Even as he spotted her, he saw her head swing around and their eyes met. Her face lit up in a smile that sent a rush of happiness through his body, and suddenly he wasn't worried anymore.

He reached the table and she tipped her head up, her lips parted slightly, inviting him to kiss her. He bent his head and brushed her lips with his softly, deliberately teasing her, and saw the realisation, closely followed by delight in her eyes

He sat down. She had bought him a large coffee and he wrapped his hands around the mug; 'thanks for this'

She smiled in acknowledgement before her eyes grew serious and she dropped her gaze to her mug of coffee for a moment before looking up again and meeting his questioning stare. She licked her lips nervously and he felt the concern start to creep over him again

'Van Doren rang Jack while Martin and I were having breakfast with him. She's found out that Wes Jackson and Edward Wyndham will be running the OPR investigation today……..'

'Wyndham? The Head of OPR is coming to conduct an investigation?' Danny kept his voice low but made no attempt to hide his shock

'Yeah. Jacks seriously pissed and even more convinced there is more to this than we know especially as Martin reckons that Wyndham and his father hate each other. Jacks going to let Victor know so that he doesn't get here until after Wyndham and Jackson have gone'

As she spoke Danny couldn't shake the feeling that this wasn't the reason for them meeting here, away from prying eyes. The expression in her eyes was strange but the more Danny stared at her the more he became convinced that it was apprehension. He lent forward and wrapped his hands around hers as she tightly gripped her mug of coffee.

'OK, well, it's good to be forewarned but I get the feeling that's not why you wanted to meet me here; you could have told me this much on the phone'

He felt her fingers spasm slightly as she sighed; 'well it is the reason I wanted to see you, but it's not Wyndham I'm bothered about, it's Wes Jackson…….' She paused, biting her lip, her whole demeanor suggesting she was worried about something. Danny was suddenly certain he knew what that something was.

'You were involved with him?'

She pulled her hands away and ran them distractedly through her hair as she broke eye contact with him. A deep breath and then she sat forward again and slipped her hands back into his, although her eyes remained fixed on the table

'Yes. He used to be an Agent in the Miami office. It wasn't serious, just sex really. I caught him going through my cell phone records earlier this year and ended it. He transferred to OPR a few weeks later.'

She took a breath and looked up, meeting his gaze with worried eyes. Danny felt a momentary stab of something……..anger? Jealousy? He wasn't sure but the worry in her eyes drove whatever it was away.

'Look, neither one of us was a virgin when we met were we? I have ex-girlfriends, you have ex-boyfriends' He shrugged his shoulders and smiled; 'I appreciate you letting me know but you don't owe me any explanations about the past, I'm only interested in our future'

Even as the words left his mouth he realised that he had said more than perhaps he should have, more than she was ready to hear. He saw the reaction to his words in her eyes; surprise followed closely by something that looked like shyness. He felt her hands grip his a little tighter

'I wanted to let you know. If he knows about us he's the type to try and use it to his advantage…..' she paused then the smile that had been fighting to come out since she had heard him use the words 'our future' broke out across her face and Danny felt as if the sun had suddenly come out.

'Our future?'

'Is it too soon for me to be saying that?' Danny suspected that he had a particularly goofy grin plastered across his face, but honestly didn't care

She lent across the table and he instinctively lent forward too, so their faces were less than an inch apart

'No, it's not too soon'

Her words sent a surge of happiness through him that left him feeling light headed. She kissed him softly and he freed his hands from hers so that he could cradle her face. He felt her part her lips at his insistence and their tongues became entangled in a slow erotic dance that sent waves of desire though him.

They broke the kiss but their faces stayed within an inch of each other as they stared into each others eyes………….

'When you've both had enough 'coffee', the meeting is starting in 5 minutes' an amused Sam was standing at the counter ordering some drinks.

Danny saw the amusement in Ellie's eyes. He kissed her again quickly as he murmured 'talk tonight?'

She took one of his hands in hers and dropped a quick kiss onto his finger tips in agreement, before standing up and heading to the counter to meet Sam who was having trouble keeping her face straight

'I'm just going to use the bathroom, wait for me' Ellie headed for the bathroom leaving Danny and Sam stood at the counter waiting for the coffee order to be filled

'Things going well between you two then?' Sam made no attempt to keep the smirk from her face. Danny grinned

'Very well thank you, how about you and Marty; you looked as if you had moved in last night'

Danny had only said it to get a rise but the blush that spread across Sam's face spoke volumes.

'Yeah? You moved in already?' he crowed with amusement.

She shook her head, laughing; 'I haven't moved in officially but we've talked about it………..there doesn't seem to be any point in waiting' she met his eyes, searching to see his reaction

He slipped an arm around her shoulders and dropped a quick kiss onto her head; 'I think its great news Sam'

Ellie arrived back as the order was completed and picked up the second tray of drinks; 'guess we had better go then' she sounded as if a trip to the dentist would be preferable. Danny held the door open as they all reluctantly headed to the office.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**FBI Offices – 3:30pm Wednesday**

Ellie sat in the chair that Edward Wyndham indicated, relieved that the meeting was finally starting.

He and Wes Jackson had arrived promptly at 10am and introduced themselves before going through the usual rubbish about how this wasn't to apportion blame, but to ensure that the facts of the case were fully understood. All through that initial meeting she had been aware of Jackson's eyes switching from her to Danny and back again and knew that Danny had noticed it too.

Once the introductions were over Wyndham had given them the schedule for the day; Jack and Danny first with Jack being interviewed by Wyndham and Danny by Jackson. Ellie had managed not to look at Jackson, knowing the look she would see in his eyes if she did. After that Wyndham would interview Sam and Jackson would interview Martin and finally Wynham would interview Ellie.

She had noticed the scowl on Jack's face at this announcement.

What had pissed her off the most though was the pronouncement that after the interview had been conducted they were not to speak to anyone who had not been interviewed. This was OK while Danny and Jack were being interviewed because she, Sam and Martin had stayed in Jack's office playing cards. However, once Jack and Danny's interviews were over Sam and Martin were taken to the offices being used for the interviews and Ellie had been moved to an interrogation room, not even allowed to go to the bathroom unless another agent accompanied her to ensure she couldn't speak to Jack or Danny.

'Can I get you anything to drink? Coffee? Water?'

Wyndham had a smooth face, slicked back grey haired and something about him left the hairs on the back of her neck standing on their ends

'No thank you, I drank enough while I was waiting to be interviewed'

She saw from the flicker in his eyes he had registered the point she was making. He opened his mouth to speak but before he could say anything the door behind her opened. She turned in her seat and saw Jackson walking into the room

'Sorry, I got a bit held up' he was smiling obsequiously at Wyndham and Ellie felt a faint feeling of nausea run through her. She really couldn't remember what she had ever seen in him.

Wyndham smiled at her, although it didn't reach his eyes; 'I'm sure you don't mind Agent Jackson sitting in on this meeting do you?'

Ellie felt the neutral mask slipping into place on her face; 'Yes I do mind. Agent Jackson and I have a history and I think it is inappropriate for him to be in this meeting'

She saw the amusement in Wyndham's eyes as well as Jackson's and realised that Wyndham must have already known about their affair. She forced herself to meet their eyes calmly despite the anger that she could feel gripping her

'If this meeting was about the warehouse shooting then it would indeed be inappropriate for Agent Jackson to be here, however given the real purpose of this meeting I feel it best if he is present'

Ellie decided Wyndham's manner was as oily as whatever it was he had put in his hair, but she didn't miss the ice in his eyes.

'Real purpose?' she kept her voice steady as the anger changed to unease

'Yes; we had to interview the others first because we need a front for this enquiry and the warehouse shooting was perfect cover, however what we are really here to investigate is your affair with Victor Fitzgerald'

She could feel their eyes boring into her, watching eagerly for her reaction, as Wyndham hurled his accusation at her.

'My affair with Victor Fitzgerald?' With considerable effort she managed to keep her voice light, even amused sounding, and saw with satisfaction the surprise in their eyes

She continued, knowing a malicious edge had crept into her voice; 'Well, this is going to be a very short meeting. There is no affair, nor has there ever been one'

She stood up as if preparing to leave, more to emphasise the last point than in any real expectation that they would end the interview

'Sit down Agent Shaughnessy' Wyndham's voice cracked like a whip but Ellie refused to react; instead she continued to stand, staring at him, a faintly mocking expression in her eyes

'Ellie we have proof of the affair. Victor Fitzgerald is going down; whether you go down with him is entirely up to you' Jackson spoke now and his voice had a tinge of urgency in it

She stared at them, making no attempt to keep the disgust from her eyes; 'You don't have proof of the 'affair' because there is no 'affair''

They exchanged amused glances and suddenly she understood;

'You don't have proof of an affair do you, you just have enough 'evidence' that, presented in the right way, can give the illusion of an affair.'

She saw Wyndham shift slightly as Jackson spoke again, his voice harsh and angry

'He's going down, one way or another. You have a choice; help us and we'll make sure you do well out of this, or don't help us and go down with him. Your choice, what's it to be?'

Their faces were cold, watchful and she knew with absolute certainty they meant every word they had said. She licked her lips as she thought quickly, trying to decide what the best way of handling this was……………her decision reached, she looked up and spoke firmly

'OK, tell me more. What do you need me to do?'


	16. Chapter 16

**Jack's Office – 5:05pm Wednesday**

Jack looked up as Martin walked into his office;

'Have you found her?'

Martin shook his head, his face showing his concern; 'No. I rang her cell phone but it's switched off.'

Jack frowned; 'Something must have happened in that meeting for her to disappear so quickly after it finished. Have Wyndham and Jackson left for the day?'

'Yeah, and good riddance. That Jackson's a piece of work. He was trying to get me to say that Ellie's judgement was impaired because she and Danny are involved. Danny said he was baiting him all the way through the interview too.'

Jack nodded grimly; 'Wyndham wasn't much better. I was expecting him to have a go about the tactics I used in the warehouse but he was trying to get me to suggest that Ellie had taken matters into her own hands and acted outside the remit I gave her. Sam said he was trying to get her to say that Ellie was a loose cannon. Whatever this is really about, Ellie's firmly in their sights'

Martin dropped into the seat opposite Jack; 'Well I rang Danny at the hospital and he hasn't heard from her either but he said if she call's him he'll let us know'

**5 minutes earlier - St Vincent's Hospital**

'……….so I said I'd help them destroy his career. In return Wyndham said he'd put me on the career fast track'

Danny stared at her, too stunned and confused to be able to put the jumble of thoughts rushing through his heads into a coherent pattern of words. She remained silent, watching him struggle to take in all that she had just told him.

A smile slowly formed on her face; 'come on Danny, you can be honest with me'

The jumble of thoughts started to form into something more tangible. Something about the way she had explained it…………….something about the way she was looking at him…………

'But you're not going to are you?' he didn't know how he knew but he did. She might hate Victor but she wouldn't help Wyndham take him down.

The amused smile on her face turned to one of admiration; 'Damn you're good; I thought I might have you fooled on this one'

He grinned; 'I've been studying _hard'_

Now she was laughing as she caught the double meeting in his words but before she could say anything the sound of a cell phone interrupted them

Danny checked the display and then glanced at her quickly. 'It's Martin'

She shook her head. He hesitated for a moment before flipping the phone open

'Hey Marty'

'Hey; where are you man?'

In the hospital parking lot; I've just been to see Rafi'

'How's he doing?'

Rafi's continuing antagonism toward him was not a subject Danny felt like discussing at the moment; 'Better physically but he still hates my guts. Whad'ya need?'

Martin paused for a moment then clearly taking the hint continued; 'Have you heard from Ellie?'

Now it was Danny's turn to hesitate. He didn't want to lie to Martin but……….he decided to prevaricate; 'what, you mean has she called me?' He saw the amused look on Ellie's face as she realised what he was doing

'Yeah, she disappeared as soon as her interview was over. Jack said Wyndham and Jackson left straight after, looking like the cats that got the cream. They made sure Jack knew they would be back in the morning and that they would need to speak to Ellie again'

'Yeah, well she hasn't rung me. If she does I'll call you and let you know. I'm heading back to the office now anyway'

He concluded the call with Martin, closed the phone and looked at Ellie with raised eyebrows; 'Ok, so now I've lied to my best friend for you……..'

She slid her arms around his waist, pressing her body against his. He lowered his face towards hers as she smiled; 'you'll get your reward in heaven'

Danny started to laugh. He moved so his mouth was next to her ear; 'I was hoping to get my 'reward' a bit sooner than that'

She laughed; 'I think we can manage something a little later;' then her expression changed and she became more serious; 'I just needed to speak to you before I go and see Jack and Martin…' she hesitated, 'and Victor'

Danny kissed her briefly on the mouth; 'let's get back to the office and get this over with then we'll head back to the apartment, grab a take away then you can 'reward' me'

Her face cleared and she started to laugh, 'you're on'

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Jack's Office – 5:30pm**

Jack sat and watched as Martin paced up and down. He had tried to get him to sit down but Martin had refused and Jack could see the tension radiating from him. As the door opened both men turned, expectantly, but it was Sam.

'Reception just called; your father's on his way up'

Martin's face was frozen as he nodded; 'do you think we should try Ellie again?' he looked at Jack for guidance

Before he could speak Sam jumped in; 'Danny rang. He said to tell you they'd be here in about 10-15 minutes time'

'Danny said he hadn't seen her' Martin sounded tense

'Yeah, he said to tell you he was sorry he hadn't told you when you called but he said to tell he didn't lie as such and that what he had actually said was that Ellie hadn't _phoned_ him, and she hadn't. She knew he was at the hospital and went to meet him'

Jack snorted and could see a smile tugging at the corners of Sam's mouth but Martin appeared not to see the funny side

'He knew I wanted to speak to her…………'

He stopped as the door opened and Victor walked in.

Victor looked uncomfortable. He obviously noticed Sam's presence and the look he gave her told Jack that Victor wanted her gone. He guessed Martin had interpreted the look that way too because he saw him grab her hand and pull her over to the table and all but push her into a seat. Victor clearly understood the significance and his face tightened

'I need to speak to you…………alone'. Victor looked angry.

Martin's face tightened as he fought to control his anger; 'don't worry. Jack and Sam know the whole sordid tale'

Jack stood up, wondering of he was going to have to get between father and son. He saw Sam grip Martin's hand tightly and guessed she was thinking the same

'You can't possibly understand why any of this happened, why I did what I did………….'

'You're bloody right I can't' Martin was shouting now, the anger he felt emblazoned across his face, '……..so come on then……..explain it to me'

'You won't understand…………..'

'What a fucking cop out'; Ellie was stood at the door, Danny by her side, looking every bit as angry as Martin.

For a moment silence fell. Ellie walked into the office, moving to Martin's side. Danny moved to sit next to Sam at the conference table

'I'm not discussing _family_ business in front of strangers' Victor spat, his eyes flickering toward Sam and Danny

'Since when have you ever considered me _family_' the scorn in her voice was clear

Jack stepped from behind his desk, positioning himself so that he was facing Victor with his back to Ellie and Martin;

'Look, I appreciate that feelings are running high but the purpose of this meeting is for us to work out who's behind the attempt to end your career'

'Oh I know who's behind it'

Jack swung around to face Ellie, knowing that his face showed his surprise at her words, even as he heard the anger in Victor's voice

'It's you isn't it…………..you're doing it. You've waited for your chance for years haven't you? Ever since that day at your grandparent's home……………'

Victor stopped as even he realised that the shock on Ellie's face was genuine.

Silence fell again; Jack saw Martin and Sam staring at Danny who obviously as confused as they were. He turned back to look at Ellie; her face was white and she was staring at Victor as if she was seeing a ghost.

Danny got up and caught hold of her arm; 'Ellie sit down'

She held on to him but continued to stare at Victor who was staring back, seemingly unable to tear his eyes away.

'It was you……………..the man in my nightmare………….it was you' her lips barely moved and Jack could hardly hear the words that she whispered

'What man?' Danny pulled her to face him, shaking her slightly, 'Ellie, what man?'

'All through my childhood I had the same nightmare. When I went to live with my grandparents I told them about it. They told me that it was a mix of a conversation I had overheard, mixed with some bad experiences in the group homes.'

Her eyes flicked past Danny to Victor; 'it was you. You had that conversation with my grandparents'

'What was it you overheard?' the impatience in Martin was clearly evident

Ellie didn't look at him, instead she continued to stare at Victor as she spoke; 'He said _she nearly ruined everything and I won't let that happen again. If you don't back off I'll make sure she get's taken off you until you promise you won't cause any more trouble'_

Yet again a silence fell.

'And then just after this you got taken away from your grandparents?' Martin sounded choked and Jack saw Victor flinch

Ellie didn't look at Martin, nor did she reply. She continued to stare at Victor. The silence lengthened then Ellie spoke again

'I know who's doing this to you………………..I was going to help stop them but now…………..now I don't know, maybe now I'll help them'

She turned to Danny, a blank expression on her face; 'Let me have the car keys. I'll wait for you there'

Danny handed the keys over without hesitation; 'I'll be there as quickly as I can'

She nodded and smiled at him, then turned and left the room.

Danny turned to Victor, his face showing the anger and disgust he felt;

'Wyndham and Jackson told her they can 'prove' the two of you are having an affair and that if she wanted to save her career she needed to give you up. She agreed that she would, but persuaded them she had some very damaging information about you but that she needed to go to a bank safety deposit box to get it. She did that to buy enough time to warn you and figure out the best way of exposing them. My guess is that at the moment she's changed her mind. If I where her I'd let them take you down and sit back and enjoy the show'

Victor looked as if he was about to say something but before he could Jack spoke; 'OK, but as soon as Victor is confronted with the evidence of the 'affair' he can prove that the contact was about her mothers will and of greater significance she's his sister. That'll blow them out of the water and leave Ellie looking stupid for not saying anything'

Danny had continued to scowl at Victor as Jack spoke but now he turned to look at Jack' 'no, she'll tell them that she's his sister……………then she'll give them the court papers that showed he used his position in the FBI to take a 10 year old girl away from her family………..and she's got a sworn statement from the cop he used to plant the drugs on her mother.' He turned back to look at Victor who had noticeably paled, 'that should do it don't you think?'

'If she has all of this why hasn't she ever used it?' Martin was staring at Danny, confusion evident on his face

Danny shrugged; 'I asked her that; she said that as tempted as she was she liked her job too much to want to risk losing it and she knew that if she exposed _him_ that she would be forced out too.'

The hostility in his voice was evident. He looked at Jack; 'I'm going after her and then I'm taking her home. I'll call you if I find out what she intends to do'

After Danny left the room Victor seemed to deflate. He sat down heavily in a chair, looking suddenly old and tired

'You'll help me wont you?' his plea was directed at Martin who looked unmoved

'If Ellie decides to use what she's got I'll help……………..I'll help _her_'

Martin turned and headed for the door then turned back to look at Victor; 'you know I can understand what you did to stop you father leaving your mother but I cannot understand how you could do what you did to a child……….to your own _sister_. I just……………..' he shook his head and Jack could see the torment he was in.

'I know………………….I know I was wrong. I did put it right but………..' Victor's voice trailed away at the rage in Martin's eyes

'You put it RIGHT? How the hell do you figure you put it right?'

'I got Isabella's sentence reduced and I got Ellie returned to her Grandparents…………'

'_You_ did that? Not Ellie's stepfather?' the disbelief was obvious in his voice

'He came to see me. He managed to make me see what I'd done, how I'd behaved…………I arranged for 'new evidence' to come to light in Isabella's case and got the process expedited and I arranged for Ellie to go to her grandparents the next day'

There was a pleading look in Victor's eyes but it seemed to have no effect on Martin; instead he slowly applauded his father, a look of utter contempt on his face

'Oh well, that makes it all OK then doesn't it. I mean never mind the 4 years she spent in the system, being abused and nearly raped…………I'm sure if you explain it to her like that she'll be fine about it'

With a final look at his father he turned to Sam who had risen from her seat; 'let's get out of here'

Victor's eyes followed Martin as he stalked out of the room. Jack almost felt sorry for him

'What happens now?'

Jack shook his head; 'I don't know. I guess you have to hope that Ellie decides not to give them the evidence. As soon as I know anything I'll call you. In the meantime, if you don't want to make things a whole lot worse than they already are I suggest you stay away from Martin and Ellie. I'll do what I can…….'

'Taylor hates me………he'll persuade her to give me up……..'

'If she gives you up you've only yourself to blame' Jack knew he sounded harsh but didn't care; 'as for Danny; he's far more interested in doing what's right for Ellie than worrying about you. You need to think on that…………actually, if she doesn't give you up I reckon it will be down to Danny. Right now she hates you so much she doesn't care about what taking you out will do to her career or Martin's; Danny knows what it'll do and he'll try and make her realise. So, if she does decide to help you you'll owe the biggest debt to Danny'

Jack decided that he had said enough. Victor looked like hell and Jack wanted him gone so that he could start trying to sort this out so that the damage to the people he cared about, Danny, Ellie, Martin and Sam, was minimal.

Victor stood slowly; 'I'll be at my hotel…………..you'll call me………if……..'

'I'll call you if I get any news'

Jack watched him go deciding that whatever happened he wouldn't be calling Victor tonight……..rather, he preferred to let him suffer. He figured he deserved it

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Danny's Apartment - 8:30pm Wednesday night**

Danny finished putting the dishes away aware that he was deliberately spinning the time out, not wanting to have to raise the issue of Victor with Ellie.

She has been silent on the way back in the car, head resting against the side window, eyes staring ahead sightlessly. Danny hadn't tried to get her to speak, guessing she needed time to think.

The traffic had been terrible. When they had reached his neighbourhood it had been getting late and Danny had stopped to pick up some pizza although Ellie had hardly eaten any of it. He had asked if she wanted to talk about it but she hadn't and in the end she had run a bath and he had washed the dishes up. He sighed and headed for the bedroom to check on her

The bathroom door was closed. Danny knocked softly, reluctant to disturb her

He heard a movement and then the door opened and Ellie stepped out, a towel wrapped around her. Danny felt the heavy feeling in his stomach lighten slightly when he saw her face; she looked at lot more relaxed and was smiling at him

'Checking to make sure I hadn't drowned?' she teased him

Danny slid his arms around her, breathing in her scent and very aware that she only had a towel around her. She pressed close, raising her face and parting her lips in a silent invitation which Danny took, happy to put off the conversation about Victor a little longer

The kiss quickly deepened. Her arms wound their way around his neck and the towel, already loosened when she had pressed her body against his, gave up the struggle to stay up. They broke the kiss; for a moment Danny hesitated, wondering if this was what she wanted but the look in her eyes dispelled all doubt

'I promised you a 'reward' for lying to Martin' she breathed in his ear sending a shiver of anticipation through him. She kissed him again and Danny lost the ability to think rationally as she helped him strip his clothes off. He picked her up and deposited her onto the bed before joining her. The feel of her skin, the touch of her hands and mouth, hearing her cry out his name, the feeling of being them becoming one, of losing any sense of him and only being aware of them, had him hopelessly addicted to her.

The intensity built between them as their bodies moved perfectly together until the heat exploded inside of him leaving him struggling for breath and his skin covered in a fine sheen of sweat. He moved so that he slumped next to her, managing to garner the strength to pull her so that her head rested on his chest, as their heart rates slowly steadied.

Danny could feel his body slowly slipping towards sleep. He knew he should fight it, that they needed to talk but………………

'Danny'

Her voice dragged him from the warm void he had been slowly slipping into. She had moved so that her head was now on the pillow next to him and she was staring at him, a serious look in her eyes

He reached out and gently stroked her face; 'Hmm'

'If I did give them what they need to destroy Victor, would it change anything between us?'

He could see the anxiety showing in her eyes as she searched his for an answer

'No, if you help him, if you give them the means to destroy him, it's your decision and whatever that is it doesn't change the fact that I've fallen in love with you'

He felt her tense at his final words and wondered if he had said too much but the fear was quickly quashed by the smile that started to spread across her face. She propped herself up on one elbow as she looked down at him, happiness giving her a glow that bought a lump to his throat

She lent down placing a gentle kiss on his lips

'I love you too' she kissed him again and Danny moved quickly, turning her so she was pinned beneath him. She was giggling now as he grinned at her, then her face became serious again

'You're sure. What ever I decide you're OK with it?'

'I just want you to make the decision that's right for you, the one that you'll never regret. So whatever you decide is fine with me' he paused watching the emotions flicking through her eyes until they suddenly stilled and she looked calm 'You've decided haven't you'

'Yes…'


	17. Chapter 17

**8am Thursday morning **

Ellie walked up the steps to the hotel dining room, clutching the locked briefcase that would determine Victor's fate, tightly in her right hand.

'Good morning madam, may I help you?' the hostess greeted her with a bright smile which Ellie somehow managed to return.

'I'm meeting two of your residents for breakfast; Edward Wyndham and Wes Jackson' she realised that her voice sounded steady and calm even though she could barely hear the hostesses reply thanks to the pounding of her heart in her ears.

She was led through the dinning room to a private booth at the back; Wyndham and Jackson were already there and Ellie could feel the excited tension radiating from them despite their calm exterior. With a smirk plastered across his face, Jackson held a chair out for her and she managed to grit her teeth and accept it rather than walk to the other side of the table and pull out her own chair. Before she could sit down Wyndham spoke

'Why don't you let me have your jacket?'

Ellie paused and then turned to look at him; 'I'm fine with it on thank you'

The tight mirthless smile he gave her left his eyes icy cold; 'you may be Agent Shaughnessy, I however am not. Please let me have your jacket'

For a long moment their eyes held, his cold, hers amused. She waited until she could see irritation begin to show on his face before she shrugged her shoulders and slipped her jacket off, handing it to Wes Jackson without bothering to look at him, her eyes still locked with Wyndhams

She slowly turned around, her arms held up and away from her sides; 'I'm not wearing a wire………..do you want me to take the shirt off too?'

He scowled at her; 'that wont be necessary.' His eyes flickered briefly over her, taking in the tight white shirt and close fitting pants. He indicated toward the briefcase; 'you have the documents that we talked about?'

She allowed her face to show the contempt she was feeling before she sat down. A pot of coffee was on the table and she poured herself a cup then sat back in her seat; 'before we talk about the contents of this case I need some reassurances from you'

Wyndham looked irritated and waved his hand dismissively at her; 'you got all of the reassurances I'm prepared to give you yesterday. If you don't want your career destroyed, you'll give me the information we discussed yesterday'

Ellie couldn't have kept the smile off her face if her life depended upon it, knowing full well how they were both going to look after she dropped her bombshell

'Hmm, well you might like to re-think your attitude. You see there's something you don't know and it means that you don't hold as strong a hand as you think you do' she didn't even try to keep the amusement she was feeling from her voice

They exchanged glances and she could see a faint hint of worry in Jackson's eyes as he lent toward her;

'Look Ellie, don't mess us around………'

'It's Agent Shaughnessy, Agent Jackson' her voice was icy cold as she met his eyes without flinching. He looked away first, discomfort showing in his eyes

'Don't mess us around Agent Shaughnessy, you're not in a position to bargain with us'

'Really? Your threat is that you'll present 'evidence' that Victor and I are having an affair, 'evidence' you obtained illegally when Agent Jackson searched through a desk in my apartment. How'd you reckon that will play with the powers that be?'

Wyndham lent forward; 'are you threatening me Agent Shaughnessy, because I can promise you that you don't want to do that'

She ignored him and continued; 'those phone records you obtained illegally showed a number of calls from me to Victor. What you don't know is that they were made because he was acting as the executor of my mother's Will'

She sat back and watched the consternation cross their faces, then Wyndham shrugged; 'so I present it that you used the Will to cover for your affair. It still throws enough mud and I only need a bit to stick to force him out' he smirked.

Ellie raised her eyebrows, looking forward to the next revelation. She waited until she could see the uncertainty creep back into his eyes then spoke again; 'Hmm, I think you'll that he wont be at all worried about you doing that…………since he can also prove, with a DNA test, that I'm his half sister'

The effect of this announcement gave her the reaction she was looking for; Wyndham sat back and went white; Jackson thumped his fist on the table

'No way………'

'Yes, '_way'_. My father is Victor's father. In other words, he's my brother, so I don't think that telling people that we are having an affair is going to do you much good is it?'

Wyndham jumped to his feet, pushing his chair back so violently that it went flying backwards and crashed to the floor. He towered over her, his face was twisted into an expression of rage as he screamed at her

'Why didn't you tell us this yesterday? You………'

'I waited because I wanted to make sure I had something to bargain with'

Her words stopped him in his tracks and he resumed his seat in the chair that Jackson had picked up for him

'What do you mean?'

'You want to destroy Victor Fitzgerald, yes?'

He nodded, his eyes narrowed as he watched her

'OK, well, you need help to do that don't you? The information you were going to use is no use to you but what if I had information that would let you destroy him anyway? What would you do for me?'

He sat back in his seat, his eyes never leaving her, a calculating look in them

'Well, as I told you yesterday, I'll guarantee you any position you want plus a fast track to a SAC role within the next 5 years'

'Hmm, I'll want it in writing…….' At the look on his face she picked up her brief case and stood up, 'no confirmation in writing, no deal'

He put his hand out to stop her; 'tell me what you've got on Victor. If it will allow me to destroy him you can have your confirmation in writing……….but if you don't I'll destroy you any way I have to'

His voice was cold

Ellie smiled mirthlessly at him; 'in that case, take a look in here. I think you'll find everything that is needed…………' she paused while Wyndham grabbed the case and opened it eagerly. As he saw the contents he looked up, shock showing on his face as she continued, triumph evident in her voice

'………to prove you guilty of perverting the course of justice and blackmail you bastard'

Wyndham threw the case to the floor, stamping on it in an attempt to destroy the recording device he had seen inside

'That won't help you……….it's a transmitter, not a recording device……we've got it all on tape'

Wyndham shot around as he heard Paula Van Doren's voice behind him. Van Doren turned to Ellie

'Agent Shaughnessy, thank you for your help. We'll need your statement later…' she turned to where Wyndham and Jackson were being handcuffed, 'after we've finished talking to these two 'gentlemen'

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Victor's hotel room – 9:30am Thursday morning**

Jack grinned at Martin; 'you ready for this?'

Martin was struggling to wipe the smile off his face; 'yeah; he must be going out of his mind with worry by now'

Jack swallowed hard and managed to put a serious look on his face as he knocked on the bedroom door. The door opened almost immediately to reveal a haggard looking Victor who stood to one side as Martin and Jack walked into the room. Martin went and stood with his back to his father, staring out of the window; Jack suspected that it was because he didn't trust himself to keep a straight face.

'Well' Victor's voice sounded hoarse with worry

Jack indicated that he should sit down and saw him pale further; 'she's going to give them the information isn't she'

He sounded defeated and suddenly looked old and tired. Jack saw Martin turn and approach the table

'No, she isn't' he spoke softly and Victor's head jerked around to look at him, a look of disbelief on his face

'What………………I don't understand………………'

His eyes swung wildly between Jack and Martin

Martin stared down at his father, an uncompromising look on his face; 'It's very easy; the person you abused, whose childhood you destroyed, who you've treated worse than you would a dog, has just saved your ass. She didn't take you down; she took them down instead because it was the 'right thing to do''

Victor stared at his son, clearly struggling to find the right words.

Martin shook his head in disgust then looked at Jack; 'I'll wait for you in the car' he headed for the door

'Martin, I…………….'

'Save it Dad; this doesn't change what you've done and it doesn't change how I feel about it either'

Martin let the door slam shut as he left the room. Jack sat silently, watching the struggle on Victor's face

'Where is she?'

Jack hesitated for a moment; 'she's at the office giving her statement'

'I need to see her' Victor stared at Jack, the look in his eyes begging for Jack's help

'Well, you can try, but I know she doesn't want to see you'

Victor stood up, a look of determination on his face; 'I appreciate that, but I have to try'

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ellie left the interview room and headed for the bull pen. Sam was sitting at the conference table doing paper work and looked up as she heard Ellie approach

'Hi, all finished?'

Ellie dropped into a chair; 'Yeah, all done' she glanced around quickly, 'Jack and Martin not back yet?'

'No. I tried calling Martin a couple of minutes ago but his phone went to message service. Where's Danny?'

'The hospital; Jack didn't need him this morning and it's really bothering him that Rafi is blaming him for everything………..and all of this crap hasn't helped'

Sam stared at her for a moment then lent forward; 'look I might be speaking out of turn here but it's obvious to everyone how he feels about you………I mean, I've known Danny for 6 years now and I've never seen him like this. I know he's had a rough time but having you here has helped, and Danny being the person he is prefers helping someone over being helped himself'

Ellie stared at Sam feeling a faint blush begin to stain her cheeks; 'I've never felt like this either………it's just so fast, but it feels so right' she shrugged feeling uncharacteristically shy.

Sam grinned; 'yeah, gets you like that doesn't it? Just don't mess it up like I did; I'm lucky Martin gave me a second chance'

Ellie started to laugh; 'I have to say, I do approve of my nephews partner……'

They were both laughing as Martin approached the conference table; one look at his face and both women stopped laughing

'What's up?' Sam stood as Martin reached the table. He smiled briefly at her before turning his gaze to Ellie. She could see the apprehension in his eyes; she sighed

'I'm just guessing, but this has something to do with Victor doesn't it?'

Martin sat down in the seat next to her; 'yeah, he's here; he wants to see you'

Ellie stared at him; 'he wants to see me? What the hell for?'

'He wants to thank you' Victor's voice made them both jump. Ellie stood up slowly; the angry words that were threatening to spill from her mouth stilled by the uncertain look on his face

'Could we go somewhere to talk………….please' he sounded hesitant and the look in his eyes told her he wasn't expecting her to agree

Ellie shrugged; 'sure' she looked at Jack who had arrived behind Victor, and like everyone else was watching the exchange silently, 'can we use your office?'

He nodded and stood aside as she walked to his office with Victor trailing behind her. In Jack's office Ellie perched on the desk as Victor closed the door and then stood awkwardly staring at her. She didn't say anything, waiting for him to speak

'Why did you help me? You have every reason to hate me, to want to see me humiliated, so why didn't you? Why did you help me?'

'I didn't do it for you………I did it for me'

He stared at her uncomprehendingly and she reluctantly explained

'I've hated you for as long as I've known your name and I've used it as some sort of…..of, fuel, to get through life and as an excuse to keep everyone at arms length. Then I arrived here and met a man who makes me happier than I can ever remember being, and that made me realise that I can't hang onto the past. What you _did_ made my life hell but it doesn't have to make it hell in the future. If I had destroyed your career I'd have to live with what I'd done, so would Danny and so would Martin and I don't want that. So I didn't do it for you, I did it for me.'

She met his eyes calmly and for the first time ever, realised she didn't feel any anger toward him, didn't feel upset or hurt, instead she felt calm, even happy. He met her gaze and slowly nodded his head

'Well, thank you anyway……….I………….I didn't deserve your help and whatever the reason was, you did help me and I'm grateful'

She shrugged and stood up, not knowing what else they could say to each other. He shuffled his feet awkwardly and opened his mouth and the closed it again. He met her eyes again

'Look, erm,……..is there anything you need……er, anything I can do to help you?'

The look on his face told her he was expecting her to start shouting; to get upset with him

'Yeah, there is actually'

She almost laughed at the surprise on his face closely followed by apprehension then determination

'Don't worry, its nothing much. I want to transfer to New York permanently' The relief was evident on his face then that was quickly replaced with worry

'There isn't a vacancy in MPU'

'I don't want MPU. I'll stay until Agent Delgardo is back at work but I don't want to work with Danny. If we are going to make this 'thing' work between us I think we are both going to need a bit of space. I checked though, and there is a vacancy coming up in one of the other Violent Crime teams'

She shrugged and saw him look relieved

'I don't think that will be a problem at all, I'll get it sorted'

She nodded and walked to the door, opened it but turned to look at him again before leaving the room, not sure how to end the conversation.

The look on his face showed that he had no idea what they should say to each other either. She nodded awkwardly and turned to head out of the office when his voice stopped her

'I'm sorry'

She turned slowly and met his eyes, unable to believe what she had just heard. She searched his eyes to see if these were just words as he continued;

'I really am sorry'

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Six weeks later**

The hot sand felt good under her feet as she walked along the beach in front of her apartment. She loved New York but it felt good to be back in Miami.

'You know, maybe I should have applied for a transfer to Miami rather than you move to New York'; Danny grinned at her as he slung his arm around her shoulders, 'I'd forgotten how much I miss the weather'

She stopped and slid her arms around his waist, smiling as she felt his arms tighten around her

'You know you'll never leave New York………no way you'd have come to Miami'

He raised his eyebrows at the confidence of her pronouncement, then bent his head and captured her lips in a brief kiss

'I'd go just about anywhere for you'

The now familiar warmth flooded her as she heard the love in his voice. Familiar it may be, but it still gave her a thrill every time he let her know, by word, action or touch, how much he loved her.

She kissed him briefly on the lips as she slid her arms around his neck; 'I love you'

'I love you too…………but if we don't actually pack your things we'll be moving into our new apartment without the things you tell me we need to 'make it a home''

She grinned and thumped him gently on the chest, 'don't start whinging about the throws and the cushions again………….you'll like it when I've finished putting it all together'

He pulled an amused face and shook his head; 'I'm sure it's going to look wonderful but as far as I'm concerned the only thing I need in it is you'

She rested her head against his shoulder for a moment feeling happier than she could ever remember feeling. She felt his lips against her temple and raised her head to smile at him

'Come on, let's get this packing done………….I don't know about you, but I'm ready to move on'

* * *

**A/N**

Thankyou to everyone who has stuck with this story (when I started writing it I was planning 8 chapters...!!) and a special thankyou to everyone who has left a review! Please let me know your thoughts now this story is finally over...or is it?

Finally, extra special thanks to **Ninz** for her help and encouragement (and constant emails when I hit a patch of writers block!)


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